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[FKOM  THE  NINTU  KEPOliT  OF  TUB  SOCIETY— 1852.] 


PKEMIUM  OFFEEED. 

A  benevolent  Individual,  deeply  impressed  -svith  the  importance  of  multiplying 
the  number  of  educated  and  evangelical  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  in  order  to  meet 
the  pressing  and  growing  wants  of  our  country  and  of  the  world,  has  placed  at  tho 
disposal  of  the  Society  for  the  promotion  of  Collegiate  and  Theological  Education  at 
the  West,  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  to  be  given  to  the  author  of  the 
best  Essay  on  "  Prater  for  Colleges." 

The  writer  is  expected  to  set  forth  the  importance  of  the  subject,  especially  as 
relates  to  the  conversion  of  young  men  in  a  course  of  education  and  the  consequent 
increase  of  candidates  for  the  sacred  ministry.  Also  the  encouragements  derived 
not  only  from  the  divinely  appointed  relations  of  prayer  to  the  conversion  of  men, 
but  also  from  tlie  signal  answers  to  prayer  for  this  specific  object  furnished  by  numer- 
ous revivals  of  religion  in  Colleges.  Then,  by  way  oi  inference,  the  obligations  of 
Instructors  to  labor  unceasingly  for  the  conversion  and  sanctification  of  those  under 
their  training,  and  of  pious  young  men  in  Colleges  to  co-operate  in  this  veork — to- 
gether with  the  obligations  of  Boards  of  Trust,  to  whom  the  church  in  an  important 
sense,  commits  the  sacred  interests  of  Christian  education. 

Committee  of  Award. — Kev.  Prof.  Ealph  Emerson,  D.  D.,  of  Andover  Theologi- 
cal Seminary ;  Ecv.  E.  N.  Kirk,  Boston,  Mass.,  and  Eev.  L.  F.  Dimmick,  D.  D., 
Ncwburyport,  Mass. 


PREMIUM  AWARDED. 

Ifeicliuryport,  June  i%th,  1854. 

-rhe  Committee  for  awarding  the  prize  ($150)  "To  the  author  of  the  best  Essay 

on  Prayer  for  Colleges,"  have  received  and  examined  thirty-two  manuscripts.     Many 

of  the  Essays  are  written  with  abiUty,  and  several  appear  well  worthy  of  publication. 

The  one  best  adapted,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Committee,  to  accomplish  the  purposes 

of  the  donor,  is  found  to  have  been  written  by  Prof  "W.  S.  Tyler  of  Amherst  College. 

An  earlier  decision  has  been  prevented  by  the  absence  of  one  member  of  the 

Committee  for  a  considerable  period  from  the  country,  and  by  other  unavoidable 

ircumstances. 

In  behalf  of  tho  Committee, 

EALPH  EMEKSON   Chairmait. 


"  Prayer  and  Paius  can  accomplish  any  thing." 

Elliott. 

"  I  never  prayed  sincerely  and  earnestly  for  any  thing,  but  at 
some  time,  in  some  shape — probably  the  last  I  should  have  devised — 
it  came."  Judson. 

"  The  man  who  -would  show  to  common  minds  the  connection  be- 
tween colleges  and  the  interests  of  the  church,  would  be  a  benefactoi- 
to  his  species."  Dwigiit. 

"  The  Schools  of  the  Proj^hets  are  there ;  is  it  not  a  more  extensive 
benefit  to  sweeten  the  fountain  than  to  purify  a  particular  stream  ? " 

Weslet 


PlIAYER   FOR  COLLEGES. 


PREMIUM    ESSAY. 


WRITTEN  FOP. 

"THE    SOCIETY    FOR   THE    PROMOTION    OF    COLLEQIATB    AND 
THEOLOGICAL   EDUCATION    AT   THE    WEST." 


W.    S.TYLER, 

PROFESSOR     OF     GREEK     IN     AMHERST     COLLEGE. 


NEW  YORK : 
PUBLISHED    BY    M.    W.    DODD, 

FOK    THE    SOCIETY. 
1855 


Entered,  according  lo  Act  of  Congi-css,  in  the  year  1854,  by 

M.  W.  DODD, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  tlio  District  Conrt  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


NBW-yoEK : 

JOim  r.  TKOW,   PKINTIB, 

49  Ann  Street. 


PREFACE. 


The  subject  of  this  Essay  divides  itself  into  two-parts 
— prayer  in  general,  and  prayer  for  colleges.  The 
first  three  chapters  are  devoted  to  the  former  ;  the 
latter  fills  the  remaining  chapters. 

It  may  perhaps  be  thought  that  the  discussion  of 
the  subject  of  prayer  in  general  is  too  extended,  if  not 
quite  superfluous.  But  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer, 
the  weak  point  of  the  church  in  our  day  lies  just  here  ; 
and  it  would  be  of  little  avail  to  present  colleges,  or 
any  other  ohject  of  prayer,  in  aU  its  magnitude  and  im- 
portance, unless  Christians  in  general  can  be  brought 
up  to  a  higher  appreciation  of  the  efficacy  of  prayer, 
and  to  a  more  vigorous  appliance  of  it  as  the  most 
potent  of  Heaven's  appointed  means  for  the  salvation 
of  men. 


VI  PREFACE. 

Others  may  deem  some  apology  necessary  for  the 
extent  and  miscellancousness  of  the  second  part  of  the 
discussion.  Possibly  some  of  the  topics  may  appear 
too  secular  to  be  introduced  at  all  into  a  treatise  on 
Prayer  for  Colleges.  In  answer  to  this,  the  author 
would  only  plead  the  fact,  that  so  much  is  written  and 
said  in  our  day  to  mislead  and  prejudice  the  public 
mind  in  reference  to  colleges,  and  his  conviction, 
which  he  shares  in  common  with  Dr.  Dwight,  that 
Christians  in  the  common  walks  of  life  are  still  far 
from  a  right  understanding  of  the  real  character,  mer- 
its and  relations  of  colleges  to  the  church  and  the 
community.  In  this  view,  he  has  aimed  to  furnish  a 
kind  of  Manual  or  Epitome  of  the  services  which  the 
college  has  rendered,  not  only  to  the  cause  of  learning 
and  religion,  but  also  to  human  progress  and  human 
happiness. 

If  the  Essay  has  any  merit,  it  consists  in  the  sim- 
plicity, directness  and  earnestness  with  which  it  labors 
to  show  to  "common  minds,"  1st,  the  duty  and  the 
power  of  believing  prayer,  and  the  peculiar  necessity  of 
more  faith  and  prayer  in  our  day ;  2dly,  the  indissoluble 
connection  between  colleges  and  all  the  great  interests 


PREFACE.  VU 

of  the  church,  the  country  and  mankind  ;  and  3dly, 
the  sacred  obligations,  primarily  of  the  officers  and  stu- 
dents, and  those  immediately  concerned  ;  but  secon- 
darily, of  all  who  have  an  interest  at  the  throne  of 
grace,  to  bring  this  great  power  to  bear  on  this  most 
.  important  point. 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  hoped  that  the  educated 
Christian  men  of  the  country,  and  Christian  ministers 
especially,  will  find  not  a  little  in  this  Essay  to  "  stir 
up  their  pure  minds  by  way  of  remembrance  ; "  and 
the  writer  is  deeply  sensible  that  its  power  to  do  good 
will  depend  very  much  on  the  manner  in  which  it  is 
received,  sustained  and  enforced  by  those  whose  expe- 
rience attests,  and  whose  life  illustrates  the  value  of  a 
college  education.  For  himself,  he  claims  to  have 
written  only  what  he  believes  with  all  his  heart,  and 
what  he  knows  from  his  own  observation  and  expe- 
rience. The  beloved  College  with  which  it  has  been 
his  haj)piness  to  be  connected,  either  as  a  pupil  or  as  a 
teacher,  for  nearly  twenty-five  years,  was  founded  in 
faith  and  prayer ;  and  those  numerous  and  powerful 
revivals  of  religion,  which  have  so  conspicuously  marked 
its  whole  history,  have  followed  almost  visibly  in  the 


Vm  PREFACE. 

train  of  the  special  prayers  of  those  who  have  been 
connected  with  it,  or  concerned  for  it.  If  there  is  any 
thing  in  this  Essay  that  is  adapted  to  be  useful,  it  is 
the  fruit  of  prayer  ;  and  if  it  should  prove,  in  any 
measure,  subservient  to  the  cause  of  learning  and  re- 
ligion, it  will  be  through  the  divine  blessing,  in  answer 
to  the  prayers  of  the  many  devoted  men  whose  hearts 
are  already  enlisted  in  this  sacred  caase. 

W.  S.  Tyler. 
Amheebt,  Novernber  20fA,  1854. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


The  Duty  of  Prayer— Eccognized  by  all  forms  of  Religion,  and  sometimes  practised 
even  by  Infidels— Homer,  Socrates,  Thomas  Paine— Results  from  the  nature  of 
Man,  from  his  circumstances,  and  from  his  relations  to  God — Pericles  and  De- 
mosthenes— Taught  by  the  "Word  and  the  Spirit  of  God — The  dictate  of  common 
Humanity — The  Offspring  and  Expression  of  Christian  love — Martyu p.  7 

CHAPTER  II. 

Tho  Power  of  Prayer — The  Incidental  Ucncfits  of  Prayer  in  its  Natural  Effect  on 
the  Soul — But  these  presuppose  a  Belief  in  its  Direct  Efficacy — The  Westmin- 
ster Assembly — Prayer  is  Asking,  that  ■wo  may  Receive— The  Instincts  of  the 
Lower  Animals  unerring — Much  more  the  Soul's  Instinctive  Belief,  that  God  will 
hear  Prayer — Various  ways  in  which  Divine  Veracity  is  pledged  to  do  so — How 
this  Pledge  has  been  fulfilled  In  Sacred  History — Prayer  always  a  Ruling  Power 
in  the  History  of  tho  Church  and  the  World — An  Elementary  Force  in  the  Con- 
stitution and  Course  of  Nature — A  Fixed  Fact  and  an  Established  Law  in  tho 
Economy  of  Providence  and  Grace — Its  power  not  Impaired,  but  destined  to  bo 
most  prevalent  in  the  Last  Days  of  the  Church 22 

CHAPTER  III. 

Believing  Prayer  the  great  Desideratum  of  the  Church  in  our  Day — "  "When  the  Son 
of  Man  Cometh,  shall  he  find  Faitli  on  the  Earth?"— Too  much  occasion  to  ask 
this  pathetic  question  now— The  Promise  of  our  Lord  unlimited  in  its  terms :  "  All 
things  whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  Prayer,  believing,  ye  shall  receive" — To  be 
taken  with  certain  obvious  Limitations — With  these  Limitations,  tho  promise 
verified,  not  only  to  Apostles,  but  to  Common  Christians,  according  to  their  Faith 
—The  Power  of  Miracles  only  symbolic  of  the  Perpetual  Power  of  Faith  and 
Prayer  in  the  Spiritual  World— But  iliis  power  not  usually  appropriated,  or  even 
aspired  to  by  tho  Church  now— Exceptions— But  these  only  prove  the  rule — The 
Church  has  many  Wants,  but  wants  nothing  so  much  as  a  revival  of  the  primitive 
spirit  of  Faith  and  Prayer 45 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Colleges — Their  Origin,  Design,  and  History — English  in  their  Germ,  but  American 
in  their  Development — The  College  not  a  University— More  like  Eton,  Rugby, 
and  the  German  Gymnasia — An  Educational  Institution — Self-educated  Men  con- 
scious of  their  Deficiencies — Franklin,  Washington,  Clay — College  Studies — Col- 
lege Officers — Students  discipline  each  other — Rise  and  Progress  of  American 
Colleges — College  Education  the  established  Policy  of  the  American  People— An 
essential  Element  in  American  Society— Educates  the  Leading  Minds— The  right 
Age — A  sort  of  Family  Organization — Parental  Government  and  Influence— Col- 
leges are  Permanent  Foundations,  and  tend  to  perpetuate  an  Educated  Ministry, 
Magistracy,  &c.— The  Keystone  of  our  Educational  System,  and  the  Corner- 
Btono  of  our  Institutions— The  enlightened  Christian  and  Patriot  cannot  but  pray 
for  these  Foundations  of  Many  Generations 08 

CHAPTER  V. 

Colleges  and  Popular  Education — Parts  of  one  System— Must  rise  or  fall  together — 
Proved  by  Facts— By  the  Nature  of  the  Case— Men  of  Collegiate  Discipline  the 
best  Teachers  in  any  School— Needed  to  train  Teachers  of  Common  Schools— To 
prepare  Text-books — To  direct  Popular  Education — Engineers— Light-houses  and 
Observatories— Early  Settlers  of  Massachusetts— Free  Colleges— Revivals  in  Com- 
mon Schools  taught  by  College  Students— The  Common  School  Question  to  bo 
settled  in  the  Colleges— The  Jesuits— A  Teaching  Order— Austria— Poland— Amer- 
ica—Must  be  met  with  their  own  "Weapons 72 

CHAPTER  VL 

Colleges  and  the  Literature  of  the  Country,  or  the  Power  of  the  Pen  and  the  Press- 
Contributions  of  the  Oflicers  to  Literature  and  Science— The  Edwardses,  Davies, 
Dwight,  &c.— Libraries  and  Lecture-rooms  the  homes  of  Men  of  Letters— The 
Minds  of  Students  fruitful  in  new  and  grand  Ideas— Bacon,  Milton— Theological 
Literature  of  the  Puritans  the  Fruit  of  Classical  Scholarshrp— Bates,  Howe,  Owen, 
Cudworth— English  Science  and  Philosophy-Newton— British  Poets  and  Essay- 
ists—Frcncb  Literature  and  Port  Royal— The  Press  divides  with  the  Pulpit  the 
Power  over  the  Public  Mind — Educated  Men  alone  can  give  this  Power  a  right 
Direction— Oxford  Tracts— Infidel  Literature— Temperance,  Liberty  and  Hu- 
manity      82 

CHAPTER  VIL 

Colleges  in  their  relation  to  the  Business  of  Life  and  the  Affairs  of  State— The  intrin- 
sic Value  of  Educated  Men— Knowledge  is  Power— Intelligence  and  Virtue  the 
Wealth  of  the  Community — Speculative  and  Scientific  Men  the  Creators  of  Mate- 
rial Wealth — Authors  of  Useful  Inventions  and  Discoveries — Chemistry  and  Agri- 
culture and  Manufactures— Science  and  the  Steamship,  the  Rail-car  and  the  Mag- 
netic Telegraph— Bacon,  Newton  and  Locke- Watt  and  Fulton— Professor  Morse 
— No  Progress  without  Science— Science  saves  Time  and  misdirected  Effort— Most 
useful  in  an  enterprising  Age— Sociology  the  study  of  our  Ago— Our  Country's 
Mission  tcr  perfect  and  apply  the  Science- English  Statesmen  ti'ained  in  the  Unl- 


CONTENTS.  Xi 

vcisities— The  Founders  of  our  Eepublic,  Hamilton,  Madison,  Jay,  Jeftorson— 
Early  Magistrates  of  New  England  Graduates  of  Harvard,  Yale,  Nassau  ITall  and 
Columbia  Colleges— University  Students  Eevolutionary  in  Despotisms,  and  Con- 
servative in  England  and  America— Influence  of  Colleges  at  once  Conservative 
and  Progressive,  Classical  and  Christian — Friendly  to  the  Union,  but  hostile  to 
perpetual  Annexation,  Manifest  Destiny,  &c.— These  Popular  Heresies  can  be  cor- 
rected only  by  the  Blessing  of  God  on  our  Colleges 89 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Colleges  and  the  Churches— Remark  of  Dr.  Dwight— Himself  a  Demonstration  of  its 
Truth- Schools  and  Colleges  owe  their  Origin  to  the  Church— Christianity 
friendly  to  Learning— Paul  a  distinguished  Scholar — Theological  Schools  at  Jeru- 
salem, Alexandria,  &c.— Religious  Origin  of  European  Universities— Oxford,  Cam- 
bridge, &c.— Of  American  Colleges,  Harvard,  Yale,  &c.— Infidelity  and  State  Policy 
unsuccessful  in  their  attempts  to  build  Colleges— Universities  of  Virginia  and 
South  Carolina— Girard  College- "Wonderful  success  of  the  Voluntary  Principlo 
and  the  Christian  Spirit  in  such  Enterprises— What  Colleges  have  done  in  return 
for  the  Church — Indirectly  through  Christian  Schools— A  Christian  Press— Chris- 
tian Rulers  and  Professional  Men — Directly  in  an  Educated  Ministry — Proportion 
of  Ministers  to  whole  Number  of  Graduates  in  dilfcrent  Colleges  at  different 
times- The  Reformation  sprung  from  the  Universities— Methodism — Missions — 
Revivals — The  Oxford  Heresy— The  Unitarian  Defection — ^The  Fountain  and  the 
Stream Iftl 

CHAPTER  IX. 

College  Life — Its  Temptations  and  Dangers — Its  Moral  and  Religious  Advantages — 
The  College  a  unique  Community — Its  essential  Characteristics — A  Community 
of  Young  Men — Four  years  together,  from  Seventeen  to  Twenty-one — Constant 
Contact  with  their  Teachers — Subjects  of  Investigation — Recitation — Morning  and 
Evening  Prayers — Public  "Worship  and  Preaching  on  the  Sabbath — Influence  on 
each  other — College  Friendships — Enticements  of  Sinners — Counsels  and  Prayers 
of  Pious  Friends  and  of  the  Church — Fewer  Dangers  and  more  Safeguards  than 
in  most  other  Communities — Habits  of  Industry — System — Employment  of  Time 
—Christian  Teachers— Pious  Students — Facilities  for  Religious  Improvement— De- 
cisive Period— S.ame  Facilities  fruitful  cither  of  Good  or  Evil— Possibility  and  Im- 
portance of  turning  them  all  to  Good— Prayer  for  immediate  Conversion  of  Stu- 
dents.   , 121 

CHAPTER  X. 

Revivals  and  Conversions  in  College— More  frequent  than  in  other  CommHnities— 
Statistics  of  Yale,  Dartmouth,  Middlebury,  Amherst,  Illinois,  Marietta,  "Wittem- 
burg— Edwards,  Hopkins,  and  other  distinguished  men  converted  in  College- 
Number  of  Conversions  in  College  equal  to  half  the  number  of  Alumni,  who  have 
become  Ministers — One  fourth  of  the  Individuals  who  enter  the  Ministry  converted 
in  College— Number  of  Professors  of  Religion  and  Candidates  for  the  Ministry  now 
in  several  Colleges— Proportion  to  the  whole  number  of  Students— Need  of  more 
frequent  and  powerful  Revivals— Revivals  in  harmony  with  tho  Nature  of  Man) 
with  tho  Spirit  of  the  Age,  with  the  Constitution,  and  Circumstances  trf  Young 


XU  CONTENTS, 

Men  in  College— Scenes  witnessed  during  Revivals  in  College— Henry  Lyman— 
Bela  B.  Edwards— A  Itovival  every  year  for  every  Class,  as  it  outers— Every  thing 
else  in  College  periodical,  why  not  Kevivals? — Favorable  to  Study — Every  thing 
attended  to  in  its  Season,  and  by  Rule,  why  not  Revivals  ?— Why  only  one  third,  or 
less,  Professors  of  Religion,  and  one  sixth  Ministers  ?— Mount  Uolyoke  Seminary.  131 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Concert  of  Prayer  for  Colleges— More  frequent  Revivals  of  Religion  attendant  on  in- 
creased Prayer  in  the  Churches— Increase  of  Italics  in  the  Triennials— State  of 
Keligion  in  Tale  College  the  last  half  of  the  last  Century— In  1783-In  1795— At 
the  close  of  the  Century— Compared  with  1820, 1S31,  &c.— Dartmouth  College— 
The  year  1820  a  new  Era  in  History  of  Colleges— New  Colleges— Concert  of  Prayer 
—Its  Origin  and  Results— Answers  to  Prayer— Revivals  for  the  most  part  soon 
after  the  Concert — More  Prayer  likely  to  be  followed  with  still  more  glorious  Re- 
sults—Special Necessity  for  Prayer  at  the  present  Time— Diminished  Supply  of 
Ministers  for  a  few  years  past — Causes — Increased  Demand — Extreme  Exigency — 
Fearful  Responsibility— Prayer  to  the  Lord  of  the  Harvest 146 

CHAPTER   XIL 

Responsibilities  of  Guardians  and  Teachers,  Pious  Students  and  Pious  Parents- 
Trustees— The  Legislative  Power — Charge  of  Funds — General  Oversight — A  Re- 
ligious Society — Responsibility  for  the  Religious  State  of  Colleges — Power  of  Ap- 
pointment— Duty  to  appoint  Christian  Teachers — Faculty — The  Executive  Power 
—Immediate  Charge  and  Principal  Responsibility — Scholars — Christians — Oppor- 
tunities for  Christian  Influence — Recitations— Prayers— Dr.  D wight — Preaching-- 
Revivals— Personal  Conversation  with  Students — Prayer— Due  to  Themselves, 
to  their  Pupils,  to  the  Design  and  History  of  Colleges,  to  the  Church,  to  Mankind 
and  to  God— Pious  Students— Some  Advantages  even  over  the  Officers — Example 
— Power  to  do  Evil— Power  to  do  Good— Brainerd- Taylor— True  Distiuotion  — 
Pious  Parents— Influence  over  Sons  in  Vacation— Power  of  Prayer— Facts— Re- 
vival in  Amherst  College— Converts  subjects  of  Special  Prayer— Children  of  the 
Covenant. 160 

CHAPTER    5IIL 

Duty  of  the  Church  and  the  Minisby  to  the  Colleges— The  Church  the  Mother  of  tho 
Colleges- The  Ministers  their  Sons  in  a  double  sense— Not  Secular  Institu- 
tions— Western  College  Society — Paramount  Duty  of  Ministers  to  root  Colleges 
in  the  Confidence  of  the  Churches  and  the  Common  People— College  Foundations 
— The  Young  Men  of  the  Church — A  Blessing  to  the  Churches  to  educate  them 
— Southampton,  Westhampton— True  idea  of  an  Education  Society— Compre- 
hensive—The Whole  Cause  one— A  Fundamental  Object— Large  Funds  neces- 
sity for  Charitable  Aid— The  Prayers  of  the  Church— A  Treasure  laid  up  in  Hea- 
ven—Cannot bo  squandered  or  perverted 179 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Kccapitulation— Motives  to  Prayer  in  General— Prayer  for  Colleges— Time  and  Man- 
ner of  Prayer 198 


PRAYER  FOR  COLLEGES. 


CHAPTEE  I. 


The  Duty  of  Prayer— Eecognizcd  by  all  forms  of  Eeliglon,  and  sometimes  practiso>l 
even  by  Intidels— Homer,  Socrates,  Thomas  Paine— Kesults  from  the  nature  of 
Man,  from  his  circumstances,  and  from  his  relations  to  God — Pericles  and  De- 
mosthenes— Taught  by  the  Word  and  the  Spirit  of  God — The  dictate  of  common 
Humanity — The  Offspring  and  Expression  of  Christian  love — Maityn. 


PiiAYER,  in  its  most  compreliensive  signification,  is 
"  the  offering  np  of  our  desires  to  God."  In  a  more 
restricted  sense,  it  is  asking  the  favor  of  God  for  our- 
selves, or  for  others.  It  is  not  only  an  unspeakable 
privilege,  hut  an  imperative  duty,  imposed  on  every 
human  being  by  the  law  of  his  existence,  by  the 
necessary  relations  which  subsist  between  him  as  a 
dependent,  needy  creature,  and  God  as  his  infinite 
Creator,  bountiful  Benefactor,  and  compassionate 
Father.  It  is  a  duty  which  he  owes,  not  only  to 
himself  and  to  his  Maker,  but  also  to  his  fellow-men, 
imposed  upon  him  not  merely  by  the  instincts  and 
intuitions  of  his  natiire,  but  by  the  dictates  of  reason 
and  the  law  of  universal  benevolence.     It  is  made 


8  rPvAYEK    FOR    COLLEGES. 

still  more  imperative  on  Christians  by  the  revealed 
will  and  direct  command  of  God — ^being  placed  in 
their  hands  as  a  sacred  trust  and  a  mighty  engine  of 
power,  which  they  are  as  sacredly  bound  to  employ 
for  its  proper  purposes,  as  any  other  trust  whether  of 
talent,  or  property,  or  influence. 

Prayer  is  recognized  as  a  duty  and  a  privilege  by 
every  form  of  religion  that  has  ever  existed  in  any 
part  of  the  world.  The  most  degraded  Hottentot 
prays  to  his  Fetische,  though  it  be  no  better  than  a 
snake  or  a  stick  of  wood.  The  Hindoo,  of  whatever 
rank  or  caste,  bows  in  adoration  before  his  ugly  idol, 
confesses  his  sins,  and  deprecates  the  displeasure  of  a 
thing  which  cannot  harm  him — implores  the  favor  of 
a  thing  which  is  impotent  to  help  its  worshippers. 
The  polished  Grreeks  and  Komans,  with  purer  taste 
though  with  little  better  reason,  offered  their  suppli- 
cations with  their  sacrifices  in  the  presence  of  those 
sculptured  forms  of  beauty  and  grandeur,  wliich  em- 
bodied their  highest  conceptions  of  human  excellence, 
deified  and  exalted  to  the  skies.  Some  heathen  poets 
and  philosophers  have  set  forth  no  unworthy  senti- 
ments respecting  prayer.  Homer  represents  Prayers 
as  Jove's  daughters,  lame,  wrinkled  and  slant-eyed, 
that  is,  feeble  and  deformed  in  themselves,  but  mighty 
as  messengers  and  mediators  between  earth  and 
heaven  ;  and  as  an  illustration  of  the  power  of  prayer, 
we  see  in  the  Biad  the  wasting  pestilence  fall  thick 
and  terrible  as  the  arrows  of  a  god  on  the  Grecian 
host,  in  answer  to  the  supphcations  of  the  injured 
priest  of  Apollo,  and  at  the  intercession  of  the  same 


A    PKEMIUM    ESSAY,  9 

priest,  when  righted  and  appeased,  the  shafts  of  the 
destroyer  cease  to  rain  upon  the  people.  Socrates  re- 
buked those  who  did  not  look  to  Grod  in  prayer  for 
guidance  and  assistance,  as  setting  the  weakness  and 
ignorance  of  men  above  the  wisdom  and  power  of 
God  ;  and  God  was,  in  his  view,  better  pleased 
with  the  spiritual  homage  of  the  truly  pious,  than 
with  the  most  costly  sacrifices  of  the  wicked.  Infidels 
pray,  despite  their  infidelity,  when  they  are  suddenly 
brought  into  circumstances  of  trial  and  danger. 
Thomas  Paine,  when  in  peril  of  shipwreck,  called 
loudly  on  God  to  have  mercy  on  him  ;  and  men  who 
denied  the  divine  existence,  have  been  so  oppressed 
by  a  felt  want  of  divine  teaching,  that  they  have 
poured  out  their  supplications  into  the  blank  and 
drear  vacuity  by  which  they  were  surrounded. 

No  age,  no  nation,  no  religion  has  ever  existed 
without  prayer  ;  and  it  may  well  be  doubted,  whether 
any  individual  has  ever  lived  to  mature  age,  who  has 
not,  at  some  time  or  other,  in  some  way  or  other, 
offered  prayer.  The  very  universality  of  its  preva- 
lence proves  it  to  be  the  dictate  of  nature.  The 
foundation  for  prayer  is  laid  in  the  very  nature  of 
things,  in  the  relations  that  exist  between  God  and 
his  creatures.  It  results  necessarily  from  God's  great- 
ness and  goodness,  and  man's  weakness  and  wants. 

Man's  own  moral  and  spiritual  nature  bids  him 
pray — pray  for  himself,  and  also  for  others.  He  is 
but  a  child,  and  he  must  needs  run  to  his  Father  for 
sympathy,  support  and  assistance.  He  is  ignorant  of 
what  none  but  God  can  teach  him.  He  is  weak,  and 
1* 


10  rilAYER    run    COLLEGES. 

God  alone  can  strengthen  him.  He  is  guilty,  and 
God  alone  can  forgive  him.  He  is  miserable,  and  God 
only  can  comfort  him.  He  has  his  peculiar  individual 
wants  and  trials,  which  he  would  fain  unhosom  to  none 
hut  a  sympathizing,  all  wise  and  all  merciful  Father. 
He  has  also  interests  and  necessities  in  common  with 
his  friends,  and  neighbors  and  fellow-men,  wliich  their 
united  wisdom  and  power  are  utterly  insufficient 
to  provide  for.  Mankind  are,  in  fact,  but  one  great 
family  of  children — gathered  on  the  footstool  of  the 
Most  High,  sitting,  as  it  were,  continually  at  his  feet ; 
and  surely  it  were  most  unnatural,  it  were  passing 
strange,  if  they  had  no  questions  to  propose  to  their 
Father  in  Heaven,  no  counsel  to  seek  at  his  lips,  no 
favor  to  ask  at  his  hands,  no  delight  in  looking  up 
into  his  face,  and  reading  there  the  expressions  of  his 
complacency  and  parental  love.  The  impulse  to 
prayer  is,  like  fiHal  affection,  almost  an  instinct  in 
the  breast  of  man  ;  the  duty  of  prayer,  hke  filial 
duty,  is  perceived,  as  it  were,  by  intuition. 

And  the  circumstances  in  which  we  are  placed, 
are  eminently  adapted  to  call  this  instinct  and  intu- 
ition into  active  exercise.  For  the  voice  of  external 
nature  unites  with  that  of  our  own  souls  in  exhorting 
us  to  prayer.  The  heavens  over  our  heads  bid  us 
look  up  to  One  who  is  higher  than  we  ;  and  the 
stars  in  the  silent  night  whisper  of  One  who  made 
us,  and  who,  though  far  above  us,  yet  bends  an  ear  to 
our  requests.  The  earth  beneath  our  feet  invites  us 
to  adore  the  goodness  that  has  overspread  its  surface 
with  fruits  and  flowers  and  every  pleasant  thing  ;  and 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  11 

yet  the  same  earth  bids  us  tremble  before  the  awful 
power  and  justice  that  has  made  it,  within,  a  por- 
tentous magazine  of  heaving  forces  and  ever-living 
fires.  The  elements  around  us,  whether  in  tranquilHty 
or  in  commotion,  teach  us  our  dependence,  our  impo- 
tence, our  nothingness  before  God,  and  call  on  us,  now 
in  gentle  tones,  and  now  in  a  voice  of  thunder,  to 
praise  him  who  scatters  the  gifts  of  his  beneficence  in 
the  rain  and  the  sunshine  ;  to  pray  to  him  who  rides 
upon  the  whirlwind  and  directs  the  storm.  We  are 
not  only  children,  but  children  surrounded  by  elements 
which  we  cannot  control — dwelling  in  a  world  of  won- 
ders, which  we  cannot  comprehend — encompassed  by 
a  universe,  whose  grandeur  and  vastness  are  quite 
overpowering  to  our  feeble  faculties  ;  and  we  must  be 
strangely  perverse  and  depraved,  if  we  do  not  cry  to 
our  Father  for  instruction  and  for  help.  •  If  we  listen 
to  the  teachings  of  nature,  there  is  no  lesson  which 
she  will  teach  us  in  more  commanding  or  more  invit- 
ing tones,  than  the  duty  of  prayer.  The  world  in 
which  we  live  is  a  temple  built  expressly  for  worship, 
and  man  is  the  only  conscious  intelligent  worshipper. 
Nor  is  the  duty,  the  necessity,  of  prayer  less 
obvious,  when  we  direct  our  attention  to  human 
society  and  human  affairs  in  their  manifold  relations. 
There  too  we  soon  find  ourselves  looking  up  to  heights 
which  we  cannot  scale — trembhng  on  the  verge  of 
depths  which  we  cannot  fathom — moving  amid  ele- 
ments and  forces  which  we  can  neither  comprehend 
nor  control.  A  few  steps  in  any  direction  carry  us 
beyond   the   boundary  wliich    separates   the   known 


12  PRATER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

from  the  unknown,  the  practicable  from  the  impracti- 
cable, the  human  from  the  Divine.  There  is  no  sub- 
ject so  simple  that  we  can  know  it  fully,  no  enter- 
prise so  easy  that  we  can  accomplish  it  independently. 
Man  is  bound  by  a  thousand  links  to  his  fellow-man  ; 
and  the  entire  chain  with  all  its  links  is  suspended  on 
the  will  of  Grod.  How  blind  then  must  that  man  be 
who  does  not  pray — pray  for  himself,  and  also  for 
others  ! 

The  future  is  an  unfathomable  abyss — ^who  can 
penetrate  its  unknown  depths  7  No  man  can  foresee 
the  issue  of  a  single  day,  or  secure  with  certainty  the 
desired  result  of  the  smallest  undertaking.  Shall  not 
every  man  then  pray  to  Him  who  sees  the  end  from 
the  beginning,  and  who  holds  the  future,  not  less  than 
the  present,  in  his  all  comprehensive  grasp  ? 

The  human  heart  also  is  an  abyss — who  can 
fathom  it  ?  Who  can  know  all  the  depths  and  wind- 
ings of  his  own  heart  ?  Who  can  trace  or  imagine 
the  countless  mazes  of  the  many  hearts,  whose  in- 
terests and  affections  are  bound  up  with  his  own — 
whose  secret  purposes  and  intentions  may  most  deeply 
concern  him  1  The  human  will  is  an  element  of  in- 
calculable tendencies  and  forces — who  can  control  it 
in  its  stormy  rage  1  who  descry  its  secret  workings, 
and  gathering  energies  in  its  seeming  tranquillity  ? 
And  a  community,  a  nation,  a  world  of  such  hearts 
and  wills,  or  even  an  assemblage  of  them,  for  what- 
ever purpose  gathered — who  can  sway  them  at  his 
sovereign  pleasure,  and  guide  them  with  absolute 
certainty  in  right  channels  and  to  good  results?  None 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY,  13 

but  He  who  can  command  the  winds  of  heaven,  and 
they  shall  obey  him. 

That  man  then  is  a  fool  who  enters  upon  any  un- 
dertaking, involving  any  important  interest,  whether 
his  own  exclusively,  or  of  a  more  general  nature,  with- 
out prayer  to  the  Being  who  holds  the  hearts  and  wills 
of  individuals,  communities  and  nations — as  he  does 
the  winds  and  waves,  and  all  the  elements  of  nature — 
in  the  hollow  of  his  hand.  So  sensible  of  this  were 
the  greatest  statesmen  and  orators  of  heathen  an- 
tiquity— such  for  instance  as  Pericles  and  Demos- 
thenes— that  they  often  commenced  and  concluded 
their  speeches  with  a  prayer.  The  very-  language  of 
all  nations  reflects  a  dim  consciousness  of  the  duty  and 
necessity  of  prayer  :  for  what  are  all  the  salutations 
and  other  forms  of  address,  especially  in  the  glowing 
East,  but  disguised  forms  of  prayer — prayer  for  that 
richest  blessing,  peace,  on  our  friends  and  neighbors  ; 
and  what  are  all  the  hails  and  farewells,  the  adieus 
and  good-byes,  even  of  the  colder  occidental  nations,  but 
the  language  of  prayer — though  too  often  uttered  by 
thoughtless  lips  and  with  unconscious  hearts. 

Now,  if  such  be  the  necessity,  such  the  obvious 
duty  of  prayer  in  worldly  enterprises  and  temporal  in- 
terests, how  are  both  the  necessity  and  the  duty  mag- 
nified, when  the  soul's  immortal  welfare  is  at  stake  ! 
Who  can  make  his  own  salvation  sure — who  secure 
the  salvation  of  his  friends  and  neighbors,  and  fellow- 
citizens  and  fellow-men  ?  Who  can  foresee  the  issues 
and  provide  for  the  destinies  of  et-ernity  ?  It  is  high 
as  heaven  ;  what  canst  thou  do  ?  deeper  than  hell  ; 


«• 

f 


14  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES, 

what  canst  thou  know  ? — the  measure  thereof  is 
longer  than  the  earth,  and  broader  than  the  sea.  No 
sooner  does  a  sinner  become  truly  anxious  for  his  soul, 
than  he  begins  to  pray,  though  he  never  prayed  before. 
Never  was  there  a  Christian,  who  watched  for  souls  as 
one  that  must  give  account — who  felt  that  he  was  in- 
trusted with  the  care  of  immortal  beings  whose  weal 
or  woe  for  eternity  was  suspended  on  his  influence — 
never  was  there  such  a  Christian  that  did  not  give 
himself  to  prayer. 

Just  in  proportion  as  one  aj^preciates  the  value  and 
estimates  the  hazard  of  eternal  interests,  just  in  the 
same  proportion  will  he  be  instant  in  prayer.  The 
teachings  of  nature,  the  promptings  of  intuition,  the 
yearnings  of  Iris  own  soul,  though  he  had  no  other 
instruction,  would  constrain  him  to  call  on  God,  for 
wisdom,  which  no  earthly  friend  can  impart,  for  help, 
which  no  created  arm  can  give. 

But  we  are  not  shut  up  to  the  light  of  nature  to 
teach  us  the  duty  of  prayer.  We  have  the  more  sure 
word  of  revelation.  God  speaks  from  above  as  well  as 
from  within  and  around  us,  and  calls  us  to  prayer.  It 
is  his  will  as  communicated  to  us  from  the  lively  ora- 
cles, that  in  all  things,  by  prayer  and  supplication  with 
thanksgiving,  we  should  make  our  requests  known  to 
God ;  that  we  should  cast  all  our  cares,  however 
trifling,  upon  him  who  caretli  for  us,  and  commend  all 
our  interests,  however  precious,  like  our  souls  at  death, 
into  his  hands  who  waiteth  to  receive  them  ;  that  we 
should  pray  for  our  fellow-men  of  all  classes  and  con- 
ditions, whether  more  or  less  closely  connected  with  us, 


A    PKEMIUM    KfSiSAY.  15 

but  more  earnestly  and  importunately  as  they  are  more 
related  or  intrusted  to  us,  and  as  their  station  is  higher 
and  their  influence  more  widely  extended. 

The  duty  of  prayer  is  inculcated  in  the  Scriptures, 
not  only  by  precept,  but  by  example.  The  patriarchs 
wrestled  with  God  in  prayer,  and  prevailed.  The 
prophets  leaned  on  prayer  as  the  sceptre  of  their 
power.  The  apostles  and  primitive  Christians  were 
strong  in  and  by  prayer.  Jesus  not  only  gave  his  dis- 
ciples a  formula  of  daily  prayer,  but  set  them  an  ex- 
ample of  habitual  prayerfulness.  When  about  to  per- 
form some  especial  duty,  or  encounter  some  peculiar 
trial,  he  would  sometimes  spend  the  whole  night  in 
jDrayer.  Throughout  the  Bible,  prayer  is  not  only  the 
breath  of  spiritual  life,  but  the  staff  of  spiritual 
strength,  the  weapon  of  spiritual  warfare,  the  engine 
of  miraculous  power,  the  channel  of  temporal  and 
spiritual  blessings,  the  medium  of  all  heavenly  gifts 
and  divine  communications. 

Nor  is  it  in  the  Bible  only  that  God — the  Chris- 
tian's God — teaches  men  to  pray.  He  writes  the  les- 
son in  their  hearts  by  his  Holy  Spirit  ;  and  then  it  is 
said  of  every  new  born  soul,  as  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  : 
Behold,  he  prayeth.  Prayer  is  pre-eminently  charac- 
teristic of  him  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit.  The  heathen 
pray,  but  prayer  with  them  is  a  blind  instinct ;  with 
the  Christian,  it  is  an  intelligent  j^rinciple.  '  With 
them,  it  is  a  diclate  of  nature  ;  with  him,  it  is  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Holy  Spuit.  The  unregenerate  man 
may  pray  ;  but  before .  regeneration  prayer  is  a  re- 
luctant duty,  or  a  felt  necessity  ;  after  conversion,  it 


16  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

is  a  delightful  privilege,  a  supreme  pleasure,  a  ruling 
passion.  Then  he  delights  in  it,  as  a  way  of  access  to 
God,  and  communion  with  him.  Then  he  relies  on  it, 
as  a  channel  for  the  communication  of  all  needed  good 
things,  of  all  temporal  and  spiritual  gifts.  Then  he 
uses  it  diligently  and  joyfully,  as  a  means  of  his  own 
growth  in  grace  and  progressive  sanctification.  Then 
also  he  learns  to  pray,  not  merely  for  himself,  but  also 
for  others — for  his  friends,  his  acquaintances,  his  fel- 
low-citizens, and  his  fellow-men,  for  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  the  cause  of  the  Redeemer.  He  prays  for  the 
sanctification  of  his  Christian  brethren,  even  as  for  his 
own.  He  bears  impenitent  sinners  on  the  arms  of 
prayer  and  faith  to  a  pardoning  and  life-giving  Saviour, 
as  men  brought  their  sick  aud  their  dead  to  the  same 
sympathizing  and  almighty  Friend,  when  he  taber- 
nacled in  the  flesh.  He  rests  on  praj^er  as  his  own 
solace  and  support  under  affliction,  leans  on  it  as  a 
sure  prop  and  pillar  of  the  Church  in  the  day  of  her 
adversity,  and  applies  it  as  the  only  lever  which  can 
lift  up  this  fallen  world  once  more  into  the  light  of 
God's  countenance. 

Take  prayer  from  the  Bible,  and  you  take  away 
not  only  the  essence  of  the  devotional  books,  but  the 
substance  and  the  life  of  the  doctrinal  and  historical 
portions  of  the  Scriptures  ;  and  vital  Christianity  is 
gone — ^there  is  only  the  semblance  of  religion  left. 
Take  away  prayer  from  the  human  soul,  and  you 
have  removed  its  best  solace,  its  only  sure  suj^port. 
Take  away  prayer  from  the  world,  and  you  shut  out 
from  it  the  light  of  Heaven,  cut  it  loose  from  the 


A    FKEMIUM    ESSAY.  17 

throne  of  God,  and  leave  it  to  wander  in  perpetual 
night,  a  cold  and  barren,  "a  forsaken  and  fatherless 
world."  Take  away  prayer  from  the  Christian,  and 
you  have  robbed  him  of  the  pilgrim's  staff — from  the 
Christian  minister,  and  you  have  taken  from  him  the 
shepherd's  crook, — from  the  Christian  family,  and  you 
have  closed  against  them  the  door  of  access  to  their 
Father's  house. 

Prayer  for  our  fellow-men  is  the  dictate  of  common 
humanity.  The  irreligious  man — the  skeptic  even — 
cannot  look  upon  a  suffering  friend  or  neighbor  with- 
out a  spontaneous  desire  for  his  relief,  cannot  bend 
over  the  couch  of  a  dying  fellow-mortal  without  an  out- 
going wish  for  his  recovery.  Such  a  wish  gushes  forth 
yet  more  freely  from  the  Christian's  heart,  but  in  his 
breast  it  is  no  longer  mere  desire,  it  is  transformed  into 
prayer,  and  he  pours  it  out  in  a  tide  of  glowing  emo- 
tions, and,  if  circumstances  allow,  of  fervid  words  too, 
into  the  ear  of  a  prayer-hearing  God.  It  were  inhu- 
man, as  well  as  unchristian,  for  him  not  to  do  so.  If 
lie  does  not  do  it,  how  dwelleth  the  love  of  man — not 
now  to  speak  of  love  to  God — in  his  bosom  ?  And  is 
it  less  inhuman  for  him  to  look  upon  a  fellow-sinner, 
who  is  vexed  with  the  cruel  malady  of  sin,  and  ready 
to  die  a  spiritual  and  eternal  death,  and  offer  no  prayer 
for  his  salvation  ?  When  a  word,  a  breath  may  be  all 
that  is  needful  to  save  him  from  the  untold  agonies  of 
the  death  that  never  dies,  shall  that  word,  that  breath 
be  Avithheld  ? 

What  would  you  think  of  the  humanity,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  Christianity,  of  the  man  who,  in  the 


18  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

clays  of  our  Saviour's  incarnation,  when  he  went  through 
the  cities  and  villages  of  Palestine  healing  all  manner 
of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  diseases  among  the  peo- 
ple, would  not  lend  a  helping  hand  or  raise  an  encour- 
aging voice  even,  to  bring  the  blind  and  the  lame,  the 
palsied  and  the  possessed,  the  dying  and  the  dead,  into 
liis  sacred  and  life-giving  presence  ?  And  yet  thou 
art  the  man,  if  thou  dost  habitually  pass  by  thy  un- 
converted friends  and  neighbors,  and  not  lift  up  one 
silent  prayer  for  their  conversion.  Nay,  thou  wouldst 
charge  thyself  with  even  greater  inhumanity  than  his, 
were  thine  eyes  opened  to  discern  spiritual  things  as 
they  are,  inasmuch  as  the  health  and  life  of  the  soul 
are  infinitely  more  precious  than  those  of  the  body,  and 
Jesus  is  ever  present,  and  ever  waiting  to  be  gracious 
to  afiiicted  souls. 

If  we  saw  an  uninterrupted  succession  of  our  fellow- 
men  defiling  in  chains  before  our  eyes,  and  then  drop- 
ping, one  after  another,  into  a  dungeon  of  unknown 
depth  and  hopeless  gloom,  and  knew  that  petitions — 
earnest  and  importunate  petitions  alone — could  break 
their  chains  and  secure  their  deliverance,  what  heart 
so  obdurate  as  not  to  join  in  such  petitions  ?  And 
where  is  our  compassion,  where  our  fellow-feeling  for 
our  fellow-men — to  say  nothing  here  of  sympathy  with 
God  and  Jesus  Christ — if  we  do  not  offer  up  earnest 
and  unceasing  prayers  for  a  whole  race  of  human  beings, 
the  greater  part  of  whom  are  still  the  bondslaves  of 
Satan,  and  are  falling,  one  every  second,  into  the  dun- 
geon of  unending  despair  !  Oh  that  the  eyes  of 
men — of  Christian  men — might  be  opened  to  see,  and 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  19 

their  hearts  to  feel,  the  inhumanity  with  which  they 
are  chargeable,  in  withholding  that  manner  and  that 
measure  of  prayer  which  is  the  indispensable  means  of 
a  world's  salvation  !  And  would  that  it  might  be 
given  them  fully  to  understand,  what  a  priceless  oppor- 
tunity and  what  inexhaustible  resources  for  world-wide 
charity  and  divine  philanthropy  are  put  into  their 
hands  when  they  are  permitted  to  pray  for  a  spiritually 
diseased  and  dying  world  ! 

Prayer  for  others  is  the  natural  and  almost  neces- 
sary expression  of  Christian  love.  Love  to  God,  love 
to  Christ,  love  to  the  souls  for  whom  Christ  died,  all 
demand  from  every  Christian  a  life  of  prayer. 

Love  to  God  is  essentially  filial  love  corresponding 
to  that  parental  affection — the  fulness  of  a  father's 
with  the  tenderness  of  a  mother's  love — which  the 
universal  Parent  bears  towards  all  his  children.  Or 
rather  it  should  be  a  more  than  filial  love  answering  to 
that  more  than  parental  affection  which  the  Christian's 
God  and  Father  cherishes  towards  those  who  are  not 
only  the  creatures  of  his  power,  but  the  children  of 
his  grace,  and  who  are  the  objects  at  once  of  his  in- 
finite benevolence  and  of  his  divine  complacency. 
Now  nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  affectionate  pa- 
rents, than  a  willingness  to  give  their  children  any 
thing  that  is  really  for  their  good — nor  is  any  thing 
more  characteristic  of  dutiful  children,  than  the  de- 
lightful confidence  with  which  they  ask  their  parents 
for  any  thing  and  every  thing  of  which  they  feel  the 
need.  Behold  then  our  Heavenly  Father  standing 
with  his  hands  ever  full  of  the  richest  gifts,  his  heart 


20  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

ever  longing  to  lavish  them  on  his  children,  and  his 
lips  ever  saying  to  them  :  Ask  what  I  shall  give  thee  ! 
And  say  what  could  he  more  mifilial  to  such  a  Father, 
than  to  ask  no  favors  at  his  hands  ?  what  more  grateful 
to  his  parental  heart,  or  more  becoming  the  winning 
attitude  in  which  he  stands,  than  that  we  should  be 
as  ready  and  delighted  to  ask,  as  he  is  to  give  ?  Es- 
pecially, when  we  have  been  undutiful  and  even  prodi- 
gal sons,  and  our  Father  stands  waiting  to  forgive  our 
wanderings  and  to  rejoice  over  our  return,  shall  we  not 
return  to  him  with  earnest,  and  if  need  be,  importu- 
nate prayers,  that  he  wiU  restore  us  not  only  to  his 
favor  but  also  to  his  image  ?  And  having  been  thus 
forgiven  and  restored  by  his  matchless  grace,  so  long  as 
there  remains  an  ingrate  and  a  rebel  among  all  the 
family  of  man — the  proper  family  of  God  on  earth — 
shall  we  not  pour  forth  our  intercessions  in  behalf  of 
that  wayward  child,  and  never  cease  to  pray  that 
God's  name  may  be  hallowed,  and  his  kingdom  come, 
and  his  wiU  be  done,  till  he  is  adored  on  earth  as  in 
heaven  ! 

Behold  also  Christ — who  sustains  towards  his  dis- 
ciples the  relation  at  once  of  a  master  and  eldei 
brother,  and  who  deserves  in  return  a  half-filial,  half- 
fraternal  love  from  them — behold  him  standing  at  the 
door  of  human  hearts  and  knocking  for  admission,  his 
locks  wet  with  the  dew  of  the  morning,  liis  feet  be- 
dewed with  precious  blood,  one  hand  laden  with  bless- 
ings which  he  has  purchased  for  them  at  infinite  ex- 
pense, and  the  other  pointing  to  heaven,  where  it  is 
his  desire  that  they  should  be  for  ever  with  liim.     And 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  21 

tell  me,  can  Christians  who  bear  his  name  and  bear 
his  likeness,  behold  this  moving  spectacle  and  not  pray 
day  and  night,  that  he  may  see  of  the  travail  of  his 
soul  and  be  satisfied  ;  that  he  may  have  the  heathen 
for  his  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth 
for  a  possession  ?  Will  they  not  spend  the  breath  of 
their  mouth  for  that  which  cost  him  the  life-blood  of 
his  heart  ?  Can  the  children  of  God  be  willing  that 
their  heavenly  Father  should  always  be  disowned  by 
the  greater  part  of  his  family  ?  Can  the  disciples  of 
Christ  be  content,  that  their  Lord  and  Master  should 
be  always  despised  and  rejected  of  men  ?  "  It  were 
hell  to  me,"  says  Martyn,  "  if  he  were  to  be  always 
thus  dishonored."  Will  Christians  suffer  the  souls 
which  Christ  hath  bought  with  his  own  blood,  to  be 
lost,  if  they  can  hinder  it  by  their  jirayers  ?  Nay,  if 
they  have  any  proper  sympathy  with  Christ,  if  they 
have  aught  of  the  spirit  of  apostles,  martyrs,  and  mis- 
sionaries of  whatever  age,  the  very  thought  of  such  a 
continual  waste  of  his  precious  blood,  and  such  per- 
petual dishonor  to  his  holy  name,  would  so  fill  them 
with  sadness  that  their  burdened  souls  could  find  relief 
only  by  unbosoming  their  sorrows  in  unceasing  prayer 
to  their  heavenly  Father  and  their  divine  Eedeemer. 


CHAPTER    II. 

The  Power  of  Prayer — The  Incidental  Benefits  of  Prayer  in  its  Natural  EfTect  on 
the  Soul — But  these  pre-supposo  a  Belief  in  its  Direct  Efficacy — The  Westmin- 
ster Assembly — Prayer  is  Asking,  that  we  may  Receive — The  Instincts  of  the 
Lower  Animals  unerring — Much  more  the  Soul's  Instinctive  Belief,  that  GoJ  will 
hear  Prayer — Various  ways  in  which  Divine  Veracity  is  pledged  to  do  so — How 
this  Pledge  has  been  fulfilled  in  Sacred  History — Prayer  always  a  Ruling  Power 
in  the  History  of  the  Church  and  the  "World — An  Elementary  Force  in  the  Con- 
stitution and  Course  of  Nature — A  Fixed  Fact  and  an  Established  Law  in  the 
Economy  of  Providence  and  Grace — Its  power  not  impaired,  but  destined  to  be 
most  prevalent  in  the  Last  Days  of  the  Cliurch. 

In  the  foregoing  cliapter,  we  have  endeavored  to  show 
that  prayer  is  a  duty  both  of  natural  and  revealed 
religion  ;  being,  as  it  were,  an  instinct  of  the  soul,  and 
a  dictate  of  nature  and  of  common  humanity  as  well 
as  of  Christian  piety. 

We  wish  now  to  proceed  one  step  further  and  de- 
monstrate, that  it  is  a  great  spit'itual  force  in  the 
luorld,  and  a  miglity  controlling  poioer  in  the  divine 
government.  And  in  so  saying  we  refer  not  to  its  in- 
cidental effects  in  quickening,  purifying,  and  elevating 
the  soul  of  man.  Such  an  influence  it  does  indeed 
exert  in  many  ways  ;  and  it  is  an  influence,  whose 
power  and  importance  can  hardly  be  over-estimated. 
Prayer,  in  its  very  nature,  directs  the  thoughts  towards 
the  highest,  greatest,  and  purest  objects,  and  thus 
tends  to  elevate,  enlarge  and  purify  the  soul.  Prayer 
fixes  the  afliections  and  desires  on  the  noblest  and  best 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  23 

euclSj  and  by  the  very  act  of  expressing  those  desh'es 
(according  to  a  well-known  law  of  the  mind),  increases 
them.  It  fastens  the  eye  of  the  mind  in  a  steadfast 
gaze  on  the  image  and  glory  of  God,  till  that  image 
is  dagiierreotyped,  as  it  were,  on  the  soul ;  nay,  till 
the  soul  itself  is  "  changed  into  the  same  image,  from 
glory  to  glory,  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,"  Prayer 
brings  the  mind  into  such  a  state  of  desire  and  yet 
of  dependence,  of  patient  waiting  and  yet  of  earnest 
longing,  as  prepares  it  to  prize,  enjoy  and  profit  by  the 
blessing,  when,  in  answer  to  prayer,  it  is  bestowed. 
Intercessory  prayer  for  our  Christian  brethren  and  our 
fellow-men,  strengthens  our  love  for  them,  cultivates 
charity  and  patience  in  our  feelings  towards  them,  and 
prepares  us  to  relieve  their  wants,  and  comfort  their 
sorrows.  Most  of  all,  prayer  brings  man  into  the  felt 
presence  of  his  Maker,  and  in  that  presence,  if  any 
where,  the  sinner  will  learn  to  abhor  himself  and 
repent  in  dust  and  ashes — there,  if  any  where,  the 
Christian  will  cleanse  himself  from  all  filthiness  of 
the  flesh  and  the  spirit,  perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear 
of  the  Lord, 

When  one  already  believes  in  its  direct  efficacy, 
these  incidental  benefits  are  all  so  many  auxiliary  and 
powerful  inducements  to  "be  instant  in  prayer,"  And 
it  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  divine  benevolence, 
which  should  call  forth  devout  gratitude,  that  in  this, 
as  in  so  many  other  (we  might  perhaps  say  all  other) 
divine  arrangements,  the  greater  good  involves  the  less, 
and  the  path  of  duty  leads  to  unsought,  unexpected, 
incidental  blessings. 


24  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES, 

But  these  incidental  eflfects  presuppose  a  direct 
efficacy  as  the  basis  on  wliich  they  rest.  Remove  this, 
and  the  entire  superstructure  falls  to  the  ground. 
"Without  a  sincere  and  heartfelt  faith  in  the  efficacy 
of  prayer  to  procure  actual  blessings  from  God — with- 
out a  deep  conviction  that  God  hears  us  when  we  pray, 
and  really  grants  us  the  good  things  we  need  because 
we  ash  for  them — prayer  does  not  bring  us  into  the 
presence  of  God, — does  not  take  hold  of  his  outstretched 
hand,  and  therefore  does  not  lift  us  up  to  his  throne, — 
does  not  bring  down  his  promised  Spirit,  and  therefore 
does  not  hallow  our  bodies  as  his  temple,  or  purify 
our  hearts  as  his  inner  sanctuary, — does  not  fasten  the 
desires  on  all  that  is  brightest  and  best  in  heaven  as  a 
proper  object  of  expectation  and  desire,  which  we  can 
secure  by  asking,  and  therefore  does  not  either  add  in- 
tensity to  such  expectations  and  desires,  or  open  any 
practicable  way  for  their  realization.  Just  so  far  as 
our  faith  fails  to  lay  hold  on  the  promised  blessings  as 
really  to  be  ohtained  by  asking,  just  so  far  prayer  will 
fail  to  prepare  our  hearts  to  receive  them  ;  and  just  in 
proportion  as  we  discredit  the  direct  efficacy  of  prayer, 
just  in  the  same  proportion  we  impair  its  incidental 
benefits. 

Indeed  prayer,  without  any  expectation  or  belief 
that  God  will  hear  or  answer  it,  is  not  prayer  ;  it  wants 
the  essential  element  of  prayer,  and  deserves  not  the 
name.  It  may  be  called  meditation  ;  it  may  be  con- 
sidered in  some  sense  as  communion  with  God  ;  it  may 
even  be  regarded  as  a  species  of  worship  ;  but  it  resem- 
bles more  the  dreamy,  misty,  transcendental  contem- 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  25 

plation  of  the  Boodhist,  than  the  real  personal  access 
of  the  Christian  (with  his  petition  as  it  were  in  hand, 
and  his  mouth  full  of  arguments)  into  the  presence 
of  a  heavenly  Father,  and  a  sympathizing,  incarnate 
Redeemer.  Prayer  without  a  petition  addressed  to 
some  one  who  is  accustomed  to  hear  and  to  grant  such 
petitions,  and  that  with  some  expectation  or  hope  that 
it  may  be  granted,  is  an  absurdity,  a  contradiction  in 
terms.  Nay,  is  not  the  very  name  and  form  and  atti- 
tude of  prayer  a  mockery,  if  it  neither  has,  nor  can 
have,  nor  is  expected  to  have,  any  real  and  proper  in- 
fluence in  obtaining  blessings  at  the  hand  of  God  ? 
Imagine  (if  the  idea  is  not  too  preposterous  even 
for  the  imagination  to  frame  a  conception  of  it)  Abra- 
ham pleading  for  Sodom,  not  with  any  expectation  of 
saving  the  devoted  city,  not  with  any  hope  of  exerting 
the  slightest  influence  on  the  mind  and  will  of  Jeho- 
vah, but  simply  for  the  sake  of  the  reflex  influence  of 
the  interview  on  his  own  character,  or  the  personal 
pleasure  and  profit  of  talking  with  the  King  of  kings  ! 
Conceive  (if  it  is  possible  to  conceive  of  a  thing  so  ab- 
surd and  ridiculous)  of  a  man  getting  up  a  petition  to 
some  fellow-man — a  sovereign  or  some  other  civil 
ruler — not  with  any  expectation  that  it  will  be  grant- 
ed, not  with  any  belief  that  such  petitions  ever  are 
granted,  or  have  any  influence  with  the  ruler,  but  sim- 
ply for  the  sake  of  the  purifying  and  elevating  effect 
which  the  process  of  getting  up  the  petition  will  exert 
on  the  mind  of  the  petitioner,  or  as  a  mere  contrivance 
for  awakening  distinct  thoughts  and  lively  emotions 
touching  the  sovereign,  and  cheating  himself  into  the 
2 


26  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

belief,  or  the  fancy,  that  he  has  thus  made  his  way 
into  the  royal  presence  !  None  but  a  maniac  could 
ever  thus  delude  himself  in  mere  worldly  relations. 
But  let  him  have  a  petition  to  present  for  an  object  on 
which  his  heart  is  set,  let  him  come  into  the  actual 
presence  of  a  great  and  good  prince,  and  plead  liis  cause 
with  all  the  eloquence  of  truth  a,nd  earnestness,  and 
see  the  face  of  his  sovereign,  beaming  with  wisdom  and 
complacency  on  him,  and  hear  his  voice  granting  the 
request,  or  if  not  granting  it,  expressing  his  sympathy 
and  aioprobation  in  language  that  is  as  cheering  as  an 
affirmative  answer ;  and  then  indeed  he  will  experi- 
ence all  the  benefits  of  appearing  before  the  king,  of 
breathing  the  atmosphere  of  the  court,  and  of  con- 
versing with  superior  excellence.  Even  so  he  who 
prays — fully  believing  that  God  waits  to  hear  and  says. 
What  is  thy  petition,  and  what  is  thy  request — lie  will 
come  into  the  presence  of  the  King  of  kings,  and  even 
though  his  particular  request  should  not  be  granted, 
he  will  go  away  awed  and  purified  from  that  presence, 
his  very  person  ennobled  by  such  communion,  and  his 
face  shining  with  Hglit  from  heaven.  It  was  in  just 
this  way  that  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines 
were  elevated,  and  almost  inspired,  to  indite  that  re- 
markable answer  to  the  question,  "  What  is  God  ?  " 
in  the  catechism.  To  define  God  !  how  extremely 
difficult  !  how  utterly  impossible  !  It  were  to  com- 
prehend the  Infinite  in  the  finite.  The  grandeur  of 
the  subject  lifted  them  above  themselves.  But  they 
felt  the  need  of  special  divine  illumination.  They  be- 
lieved in  the  efficacy  of  prayer.     They  rose  to  ask  for 


A    PllEMIUBI    ESSAY.  27 

divine  teaching,  and  felt  themselves  transported  almost 
into  the  presence  of  the  infinite  Spirit.  And  no 
sooner  did  they  look  up  than  light  from  the  Throne 
beamed  upon  their  understandings  and  their  hearts. 
No  sooner  did  he  who  led  their  devotions — the  young- 
est of  the  number — ojDcn  his  mouth  to  speak  unto 
God,  than  it  was  filled  by  God  himself ;  and  the  first 
words  that  he  uttered  were  an  invocation  to  the  Deity, 
which  they  pronounced  by  acclamation  to  comprise  the 
answer  they  sought,  and  which  is  probably  the  best 
answer  to  that  great  question  that  was  ever  compassed 
in  words  of  merely  human  wisdom. 

Such  then  is  prayer.  It  is  literally  aslcing  that  toe 
7nay  receive.  It  recognizes  God  as  one  who  hears 
prayer,  and  who  invites  and  commands  all  men  to  pray 
with  the  exj^ectation  of  being  heard, — who  says  to 
every  believing  Christian,  naj,  to  every  humble  and 
penitent  sinner  :  Ask  what  I  shall  give  thee — and 
whose  veracity  is  therefore  pledged  to  grant  us  our  re- 
quests if  we  ask  what  is  agreeable  to  his  will.  And  it 
is  just  this  ijledgc  of  the  divine  veracitTj  on  which 
rests  the  assurance  that  God  loill  hear  and  answer 
prayer. 

God  has  actually  given  such  a  j)ledge.  He  has 
given  it  in  a  great  variety  of  forms  and  ways.  He  has 
given  it  in  all  the  ways  in  which  he  has  invited  men 
to  pray,  and  encouraged'  the  hope  that  prayer  will  not 
be  unavailing.  He  has  given  it  in  his  works  and  in  his 
word.  He  has  written  it  in  the  soul  of  man  as  well 
as  on  the  pages  of  the  Bible.  He  has  repeated  it  in 
times  and  ways  without  number,  now  in  inarticulate 


28  PKAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

sighs  from  within  the  soul,  now  in  loud  voices  from  ex- 
ternal nature — at  one  time  by  the  mouth  of  prophets 
and  apostles  and  all  his  faithful  ministers,  at  another 
by  the  secret  whispers  of  his  Holy  Spirit.  And  will 
he  prove  false  to  his  word,  so  solemnly  plighted,  so 
often  and  so  distinctly  repeated  ? 

The  instincts  of  the  lower  animals,  the  appetences 
of  plants  even,  are  unerring.  They  never  mislead  or 
disappoint  the  humblest  of  God's  creatures.  The  pale 
and  delicate  plant,  that  grows  in  a  dark  cell,  bends 
its  stalk  and  stretches  out  its  leaves  towards  the  nar- 
row grated  window,  oxi^  finds  the  light  which  it  seeks. 
And  shall  the  feeble  and  humble  soul  that  lives  in  the 
prison  of  this  world,  grope  for  the  light  of  heaven, 
reach  after  it,  long  for  it,  pray  for  it,  and  no  light  be 
ffiven  it  ?     The  slender  and  flexible  vine  sends  forth 

O 

its  tendrils  for  some  arbor  or  trellis,  shrub  or  tree,  about 
which  they  may  twine  and  gain  support  ;  and  it  finds 
just  the  support  it  needs.  Shall  the  penitent  and  be- 
lieving soul,  then,  not  find  the  support  which  it  almost 
instinctively  seeks  in  God,  which  it  almost  necessarily 
hopes  to  lay  hold  of  by  prayer,  and  prayer  alone  ?  All 
animals  are  formed  with  a  physical  structure  adapted 
to  breathing  and  seeing,  and  when,  in  accordance  with 
the  unconscious  impulses  of  their  nature,  they  expand 
their  lungs,  though  it  be  for  the  first  time,  they 
breathe  in  the  vital  air  ;  when  they  open  their  eyes, 
they  see  the  pleasant  light  of  the  sun.  In  Hke  man- 
ner, all  mankind  are  made  with  a  spiritual  nature, 
which,  more  or  less  strongly  and  distinctly,  impels 
them  to  pray,  and  that  with  the  hope  of  receiving  the 


A   PEEMIUM    ESSAY.  29 

things  for  which  they  pray  (for  the  belief  that  prayer 
will  be  heard  and  answered  is  as  instinctive  and  uni- 
versal as  is  the  impulse  which  prompts  to  prayer). 
Now,  shall  this  higher  spiritual  impulse  alone  disap- 
point and  deceive  ?  Shall  this  alone  prove  delusive, 
and  find  no  corresponding  objective  reaUty  ?  Shall 
the  soul  expand  its  desires  towards  God,  and  inhale  no 
breath  from  heaven  ?  Shall  the  soul  lift  up  its  prayer 
for  special  divine  teaching,  and  no  light  from  heaven 
greet  those  longing  eyes  ?  The  Lord  satisfieth  the 
desire  of  every  living  thing  with  food  suited  to  its 
nature  and  necessities  ;  and  when  his  childrejb  open 
their  hearts  and  wait  for  him  to  fill  them,  shall  they 
be  sent  away  empty  ?  Or  if  they  ask  of  him  a  fish, 
will  he  give  them  a  serpent  ;  or  if  they  ask  an  egg, 
will  he  give  them  a  scorpion  ?  When  they  ask  of  him 
substantial  and  satisfying  food,  will  he  give  them  only 
vapor  and  moonshine,  and  all  such  transcendental 
stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of,  or  bid  them  be  content 
with  the  intrinsic  satisfaction  of  asking,  and  the  inci- 
dental benefits  of  coming  before  him  with  their  re- 
quests ? 

It  is  with  sorrow  and  shame  that  we  resort  to  such 
arguments,  and  dwell  on  them  so  long  to  prove  a 
point,  which,  to  the  simple,  unsophisticated  and  be- 
lieving spirit,  must  be  so  clear  and  plain  in  the  light 
of  Scripture  and  experience.  But  ours  is  a  day  of 
philosophy  and  speculation,  rather  than  simple  faith. 
There  is  now  a  strong  propensity  to  sink  the  super- 
natural and  special  in  the  natural  and  ordinary  ;  to 
reduce  even  miracles  and  prophecies  to  the  sway  of 


30  TRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

law  and  the  rank  of  common  events  ;  to  resolve  aU  the 
phenomena  of  the  ohjective  creation  and  the  very  exist- 
ence and  agency  of  the  Creator  into  the  subjective 
qualities  and  workings  of  the  human  soul.  And  while 
the  pantheistic  school  of  philosophers  have  thus  made 
God  the  creature  of  the  human  mind,  instead  of  the 
human  mind  the  creature  of  God,  and  the  rationalists 
have  reduced  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  to  a 
level  with  the  imaginations  of  the  poet  and  the  intui- 
tions of  the  philosopher,  evangelical  Clmstians  are  in 
danger  of  divesting  prayer  of  its  most  sacred  and  di- 
vine prerogatives,  and  expecting  its  chief  benefits  as 
the  natural  result  of  the  operations  of  their  own  souls, 
rather  than  as  a  free  gift  direct  from  the  throne  of  the 
Most  High.  In  such  an  age,  we  feel  constrained  to 
remind  believers  as  well  as  unbelievers,  that  God  never 
proves  false  to  the  loAvest  instinct  of  his  humblest 
creatures  ;  and  it  is  quite  incredible  that  he  should 
disappoint  the  higher  instincts  or  intuitions  which  ho 
has  wrought  into  the  souls  of  men.  He  has  impressed 
on  the  human  heart  every  where  an  intuitive  convic- 
tion of  his  existence  and  providence  and  moral  govern- 
ment ;  and  he  does  exist,  not  merely  as  the  co-eternal 
soul  of  the  world,  but  as  a  provident  Father  and  right- 
eous moral  Governor  of  the  universe.  He  has  led  all 
men  in  aU  nations  and  ages  to  expect  a  supernatural 
revelation,  and  to  believe  in  a  special  divine  inspiration 
as  an  essential  characteristic  of  such  a  revelation  ; 
and  in  the  fulness  of  times  he  gave  the  world  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  bearing  all 
the  marks  of  an  extraordinary  and  infallible  inspira- 


A   PREMIUM    ESSAY.  31 

tion.  In  like  manner,  he  has  prompted  men  every 
where  to  pray,  with  the  expectation  of  receiving  in  re- 
turn that  for  which  they  pray  ;  and  who  that  is  a  be- 
hever  in  the  divine  existence  and  in  revelation, — who 
that  recognizes  the  veracity  of  Grod  wherever  and  how- 
ever plighted  to  any  of  his  creatures,  can  doubt  that 
he  will  fully  redeem  his  pledge  to  hear  prayer  ? 

With  our  confidence  in  the  divine  veracity  thus 
established,  let  us  now  proceed  to  consider,  with  some 
care,  what  God  has  said  in  his  Word  touching  the 
efficacy  of  prayer.  Nature  teaches  us  to  expect  that 
prayer  will  be  heard  ;  the  Scriptures  assure  us  that  it 
loill  be.  In  how  many  places  and  how  many  ways  is 
the  veracity  of  God  pledged  directly  or  indirectly  in 
his  Word,  that  he  will  hear  and  answer  prayer  !  In 
how  many  passages  of  Holy  Writ — passages  almost 
without  number — is  the  certain  efficacy  and  great 
power  of  prayer  asserted  or  implied  ?  Ifc  is  implied  in 
the  innumerable  invitations  and  commands  to  pray ; 
to  pray  always  with  all  prayer  and  supplication, — to 
pray  without  ceasing,  and  never  faint, — of  wliich  the 
Bible  is  full ;  for  what  arc  such  invitations  and  com- 
mands but  hypocrisy  and  mockery,  if  prayer  is  of  no 
avail  to  secure  the  blessings  for  which  we  ask  ?  It  is 
yet  more  forcibly  inculcated  in  the  severe  rebukes 
which  are  often  administered  to  those  who  cast  off  fear 
and  restrain  prayer,  and  who  say  :  "  What  profit  shall 
we  have,  if  we  pray  unto  him  ?"  It  is  clearly  taught 
in  those  numerous  passages  which  impute  our  destitu- 
tion of  spiritual  blessings  not  to  God's  unwillingness 
to  hear  prayer,  but  to  our  not  offering  prayer,  or  not 


32  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

ofifering  it  aright  :  "  Ye  are  not  straitened  in  mc  ;  ye 
are  straitened  in  your  own  bowels.  Ye  have  not,  be- 
cause ye  ask  not ;  ye  ask  and  receive  not,  because  ye 
ask  amiss."  It  is  expressly  declared  in  passages  not  a 
few,  where  it  is  the  direct  object  of  the  sacred  writer 
to  insist  on  the  efficacy  of  prayer :  "  The  effectual, 
fervent  prayer  of  the  righteous  man  availeth  much." 
"  The  Lord  is  nigh  unto  all  them  that  call  upon  him, 
to  all  that  call  upon  him  in  truth."  "He  will  fulfil 
the  desire  of  them  that  fear  him ;  he  also  will  hear 
their  cry,  and  save  them,"  It  is  contained  in  many 
great  and  precious  promises,  addressed  directly  to  those 
who  offer  prayer  :  "  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you  ; 
seek,  and  ye  shall  find  ;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened 
unto  you."  The  reasonableness  of  the  doctrine  is 
argued,  and  the  appeal  is  made  to  our  own  willing- 
ness, as  parents,  to  grant  the  requests  of  our  children, 
feeble  and  imperfect  as  our  own  parental  love  is,  in 
comparison  with  that  of  the  infinite  and  universal  Pa- 
rent :  "  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good 
gifts  to  your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your 
Father  who  is  in  heaven  give  good  things  to  them 
that  ask  him  ?  "  Nay,  reference  is  even  made  to  the 
power  of  importunate  entreaties  to  move  the  hearts 
and  wills  of  the  selfish  and  the  unjust,  in  order  to  set 
forth  the  certainty  that  the  prayers  of  his  children  will 
not  be  unheeded  by  him  who  cannot  be  unjust,  and 
whose  nature  is  love.  Most  frequently  and  most  pow- 
erfully is  the  doctrine  taught  in  that  most  efficacious 
of  all  ways  of  teaching,  by  example.  Time  would  faU 
us  to  enumerate  a  small  fraction  only  of  the  many, 


A   PREMIUM    ESSAY.  33 

many  instances  on  record,  in  which  God  has  heard  his 
servants  when  they  have  cried  unto  him,  and  sent 
them  the  very  blessing  which  they  needed,  and  for 
which  they  prayed.  There  is  no  kind  or  degree  of 
blessing,  great  or  small,  temporal  or  spiritual,  which 
has  not  been  borne  on  the  wings  of  prayer  from  heaven 
to  earth.  There  is  no  time  or  place,  or  form  or  man- 
ner of  prayer,  private  or  public,  by  day  or  by  night,  in 
the  house  of  God  or  at  the  family  altar,  on  the  house- 
top or  by  the  sea-shore,  for  one's  self  or  for  one's  friends 
and  neighbors,  or  for  the  church,  or  for  the  world,  that 
has  not  been  heard  and  answered.  From  the  interces- 
sion of  Abraham  for  the  cities  of  the  plain,  as  recorded 
in  the  book  of  Genesis,  to  the  unceasing  prayers  of  the 
whole  church  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  what  is  the 
history  of  the  Old  Testament  and  of  the  New,  but  a 
record  of  life  and  death,  of  blessing  and  cursing,  sus- 
pended on  the  prayers  of  God's  peopl  e  ? 

The  course  of  nature,  the  vicissitudes  of  the  sea- 
sons, the  power  of  the  winds  and  waves,  and  all  the 
elements,  have  been  directed  and  controlled  by  prayer. 
Prayer  saved  the  lives  of  shipwrecked  mariners,  brought 
up  the  rebelHous,  but  penitent  prophet,  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  sea,  as  from  the  depths  of  hell ;  called 
down  fire  from  heaven  to  consume  the  offering  on  the 
altar  of  the  living  God  ;  spread  famine  and  pestilence 
over  the  guilty  land,  and  in  due  time  stayed  their 
ravages  ;  shut  up  the  windows  of  heaven  that  it  might 
not  rain  for  long  years  of  drought,  and  then  opened 
them  again,  and  the  heavens  gave  rain,  and  the  earth 
yielded  her  increase.  The  destruction  or  preservation 
2* 


34  PRAYEll    Foil    COLLEGES. 

of  cities,  the  victory  or  defeat  of  armies,  the  rise  and 
fall  of  nations,  as  well  as  the  life  and  death  of  indi- 
viduals, were  suspended  on  prayer.  Prayer  carried 
back  the  shadow  on  the  dial  ten  degrees,  and  added 
fifteen  years  to  the  good  king's  life.  Prayer  stood  be- 
tween the  living  and  the  dead,  and  stayed  the  destroy- 
er's march  through  the  camp  of  Israel.  Again,  j)rayer 
sent  forth  the  destroyer  into  the  camp  of  the  enemies 
of  Israel,  and  one  night  extinguished  the  whole  army  ; 
in  the  morning,  they  were  aU  dead  corpses.  Prayer 
fed  the  hungry  and  clothed  the  naked,  and  comforted 
the  widow  and  blessed  the  fatherless,  and  healed  the 
sick  and  raised  the  dead.  Prayer  saved  Nineveh  from 
destruction,  and  would  have  saved  Sodom,  had  there 
been  in  it  ten  righteous  persons.  Prayer  averted  or 
delayed  many  a  threatened  evil  from  the  chosen  people 
of  Grod,  and  delivered  them  from  the  hand  of  many  an 
oppressor  ;  and  brought  them  back  from  their  captivity 
in  Babylon,  and  rebuilt  their  temple,  and  would  have 
saved  them  from  the  final  extinction  of  theii-  national 
existence,  if  they  had  but  united  in  humble  and  peni- 
tent deprecation  of  divine  justice.  Prayer  shut  the 
mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  opened 
the  doors  of  prisons,  and,  knocking  ofi"  their  chains, 
bade  the  prisoners  go  free. 

The  prosperity  of  true  religion,  the  edification  of 
the  church,  and  the  conversion  of  sinners,  have  always 
and  every  where  been  connected  with,  and  proportioned 
to,  the  prayers  of  the  faithful.  "  Lord,  revive  thy 
work,"  was  the  prayer  of  prophets  and  ancient  saints  ; 
and  the  Lord  revived  his  work,  and  lifted  upon  them 


A    FllEMIUM    ESSAY.  35 

the  light  of  his  countenance  ;  and  he  that  went  forth 
weeping,  bearing  precious  seed,  came  again  with  re- 
joicing, bringing  his  sheaves  Avith  him.  The  apostles 
and  primitive  Christians  waited  at  Jerusalem,  and 
pleaded  in  united,  earnest  and  importunate  prayer  the 
promised  gift  of  the  Holy  Sj^irit,  which  alone  could 
endue  them  with  power  for  their  work ;  and  while 
they  w^ere  yet  all  with  one  accord  in  one  place,  the 
promise  was  fulfilled  ;  the  rushing,  mighty  wind,  wdiich 
symboHzed  the  heavenly  influence,  filled  the  house  ; 
the  cloven  tongues,  like  as  of  fire,  which  were  so  sig- 
nificant at  once  of  the  purifying  and  the  miraculous 
power  of  the  Spirit,  sat  upon  each  of  them  :  and  the 
same  day,  there  were  added  unto  them  about  three 
thousand  converts  from  the  unbelieving  and  lately  per- 
secuting multitude.  And  as  they  afterwards  continued 
instant  in  prayer  and  Christian  communion,  "the. 
Lord  added  to  them  daily  of  such  as  should  be  saved."  " 
Prayer  and  the  ministry  of  the  Word  were  the  com- 
bined instrumentalities  on  which  the  apostles  relied 
for  the  upbuilding  of  the  church  and  the  salvation  of 
souls  ;  the  preached  Word  as  the  means  of  reaching 
the  hearts  and  consciences  of  men  ;  the  prayer  as  the 
means  of  bringing  down  the  blessing  of  God,  without 
which  even  the  good  seed  sown  by  the  apostles  could 
yield  no  increase.  Prayer  and  a  holy  life  and  conver- 
sation were  also  the  main  resources  on  which  common 
Christians  dej^ended  for  their  own  progressive  sancti- 
fication  and  the  conviction  and  conversion  of  their  un- 
believing neighbors  ;  these  were  the  weapons  of  their 
warfare,  and   the  pillars  of  their  strength  ;  these  the 


36  PllAYER    Foil    COLLEGES. 

vital  breath  of  their  souls,  and  the  daily  business  ot 
their  lives. 

Prayer  then  has  ever  been  a  ruling  poioer  in  the 
history  of  the  church  and  of  the  world,  as  that  history 
has  been  written  by  the  finger  of  God  himself.  He 
has  promised  to  hear  prayer,  and  he  has  fulfilled  the 
promise.  He  has  pledged  himself  in  every  possible 
way  to  grant  the  requests  of  his  people,  and  he  has 
fully  redeemed  the  pledge.  He  has  taken  great  pains 
so  to  speak,  by  repeated  promises  and  renewed 
pledges,  by  solemn  asseverations  and  cogent  argu- 
ments, and  earnest  appeals  and  forcible  illustrations, 
and  unquestionable  facts  to  encourage  men  to  prayer ; 
and  he  has  taken  no  less  pains  not  to  disappoint  the 
hopes  and  expectations  he  has  thus  raised.  He  has 
ever  been  saying,  "  Ask  what  I  shall  give  thee,"  and 
ever  been  giving,  what  men  have  truly  and  properly 
asked.  He  has  invited  his  people  to  command  him — 
he  has  permitted  them  to  reason  and  expostulate  and 
wrestle  with  him,  as  it  were,  in  prayer  ;  and  so  far 
from  being  displeased  with  their  boldness,  when  they 
have  said,  "  I  will  not  let  thee  go  without  a  blessing," 
he  has  rewarded  the  boldest  confidence  with  the  richest 
gifts.  Jacob  wrestled  with  God  till  the  break  of  day, 
and  then  received  the  name  of  Israel,  because,  "  as  a 
prince,  he  had  power  with  God,  and  prevailed  ; "  and 
the  people  of  God's  choice  and  covenant  and  grace, 
have  ever  since  not  only  borne  his  better  than  royal 
name,  but  inherited  his  more  than  princely  power. 
They  are  stUl  God's  spiritual  Israel — they  still  have 
poiver  ivUh  God,  and  prevail.     They  still  have  access 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  37 

to  liim  who  is  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant,  and  influ- 
ence with  him,  who  is  not  only  Head  of  the  church, 
but  Head  over  all  things  to  the  church,  and  has  all 
power  on  "earth  and  in  heaven.  They  still  move  the 
arm  that  moves  and  governs  the  Universe. 

Prayer  may  well  be  said  to  rule  in  the  Idngdom  of 
nature,  the  kingdom  of  providence,  and  the  kingdom 
grace,  for  it  has  influence  with  him  who  is  king  in  all 
these  kingdoms.  It  touches  and  sways  the  sceptre 
of  the  King  of  Idngs,  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth. 
It  was  so  settled  in  the  counsels  of  eternity.  It  was 
God's  eternal  purpose  to  bestow  rich  and  manifold 
blessings  on  mankind,  but  it  was  his  eternal  purpose 
also  to  confer  them  only  in  answer  to  prayer.  His 
truth  has  long  been  pledged  in  his  word,  by  many 
precious  promises,  to  do  great  things  for  his  people  ; 
but  he  will  yet  be  "inquired"  of  by  his  people  to  do 
for  them  these  very  things  which  he  has  thus  ex- 
plicitly promised.  Prayer  thus  enters,  as  it  were, 
into  the  very  plan  and  structure  of  the  universe.  It 
is,  if  we  may  so  speak,  one  of  the  elementary  prin- 
ciples, or  forces,  in  the  original  constitution  of  things 
— not  less  so  than  light,  or  heat,  or  gravitation,  or 
electricity.  It  is  an  invisible,  intangible  principle  ; 
but  so  are  they.  It  cannot  be  weighed  or  measured  ; 
neither  can  they.  The  material  world  was  made  for 
moral  ends,  and  moral  elements  enter,  as  it  were,  into 
its  composition — moral  forces  mould,  so  to  speak,  its 
masses,  direct  its  movements,  and  control  the  course  of 
events.    And  among  these  prayer  is  perhaps  the  chief. 

The  frame  of  nature  was  so  constituted  at  the 


38  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

first,  or,  (if  any  prefer  another  mode  of  conceiving 
and  representing  the  same  essential  truth),  its  course 
is  so  directed,  that  it  always  harmonizes  and  falls  in 
with  the  fervent,  effectual  prayers  of  righteous  men  ; 
and  when  the  sun  sheds  its  quickening  beams,  or 
the  rain  descends  in  fertihzing  showers,  or  drought,  or 
famine,  or  pestilence  is  averted  in  accordance  with  the 
united  and  believing  prayers  of  a  prostrate  church 
and  nation,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
prayers  are  as  efficacious  and  as  essential  to  the  results, 
as  the  natural  causes  ;  and  the  efficacy  of  both  is 
alike  provided  for  in  the  nature  of  things — alike  con- 
templated and  involved  in  the  plans  of  Him  who 
worketh  all  things  according  to  the  counsel  of  His 
own  will.  He  would  as  soon  give  the  rain  (in  such  a 
case)  without  the  clouds,  or  the  electric  fluid,  as  with- 
out the  prayers  of  his  people.  To  dispense  with  either 
the  material,  or  the  moral  instrumentality,  were  alike 
to  sever  the  established  order  of  sequences,  and  violate 
the  ordinances  of  Heaven. 

Still  more  palpably  does  prayer  enter  into  the 
economy  of  divine  Providence  and  divine  grace.  The 
efficacy  of  prayer  is  one  of  the  great  fixed  facts  and 
established  laws  of  Grod's  providential  and  moral 
government,  which  he  will  no  more  supersede  or  dis- 
pense with,  than  he  will  contravene  the  laws  of  his  own 
existence  and  agency,  or  the  free  moral  agency  of  his  in- 
telligent creatures.  Prayer  and  pains  go  hand  in  hand 
in  the  accomplishment  of  the  greatest  events  in  human 
life  ;  and  what  God  hath  thus  joined  together,  man 
cannot  put  asunder     Prayer  and  medicines, — prayer 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  39 

and  means, — are  often  seen  to  co-operate  marvelloiisly 
in  the  cure  of  diseases,  whether  in  the  natural  body 
or  the  body  politic  :  and  who  can  say,  that  the  means 
are  any  more  essential,  or  the  medicines  any  more  efiec- 
tive,  than  the  prayers  ?  Prayei  enters  as  an  essential 
element  into  the  happiness  of  the  individual,  the 
well-being  of  the  community,  and  the  prosperity  of 
the  nation.  So  it  was  in  the  history  of  the  Israel- 
ites,— so  it  was  in  the  history  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  of  New  England.  Mather's  Magnalia  is  a 
record  and  testimony  to  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  scarcely 
less  striking  than  the  liistorical  books  of  the  Bible. 
Famine  and  j)estilence,  and  war  and  captivity  were 
averted ;  health  and  plenty,  and  liberty  and  peace, 
were  secured  in  almost  visible  answers  to  prayer. 
A.nd  though  it  is  less  manifest,  the  truth  is  no  less 
real  in  our  own  day,  and  if  our  j)rayers  were  equally 
importunate,  and  our  faith  equally  strong,  we  should 
see  no  less  convincing  demonstrations  of  the  power  of 
23rayer  in  averting  social  and  civil  evils,  and  in  pro- 
curing national  and  jirovidential  blessings — ^we  should 
see,  almost  as  with  the  bodily  eye,  prayer  taking  hold 
of  the  arm  of  Providence,  and  that  arm,  in  conse- 
quence, laid  bare  and  stretched  out  in  all  the  great 
events  of  our  national  history,  so  that  we  could  no 
more  doubt  that  prayer  is  a  great  power  among  the 
nations,  than  we  could  disbelieve  the  doctrine  of  an 
overruling  Providence,  or  the  existence  of  the  law  of 
gravitation. 

Above  all,  prayer  is  a  great  power  in  the  church 
and  in  the  hearts  of  men.     Prayer  brhigs  down  the 


40  PRAYEli    FOR    COLLEGES. 

Spirit  of  God  to  enlighten  the  darkness  of  nature,  to 
convince  the  world  of  sin,  to  lead  sinners  to  repent- 
ance, and  the  remission  of  their  sins  ;  to  dwell  in  the 
church,  and  in  the  hearts  of  all  true  believers.  Here, 
above  all,  the  power  of  God  is  linked  to  the  weakness 
of  men  ;  the  riches  of  God  wait  for  the  requests  of 
men  ;  the  sovereignty  of  God  invites  the  commands 
of  men.  Here  is  the  point  to  which  all  the  designs  of 
nature  and  Providence  tend  ;  towards  which  all  mate- 
rial elements  and  forces  converge  ;  in  which  all  histor- 
ical events  culminate.  The  material  was  made  for 
the  spiritual ;  the  world  was  made,  and  is  preserved 
for  the  church  ;  and  if  prayer  is  a  controlHng  force  in 
the  former,  it  is  doubly  so  in  the  latter.  God  in 
Christ  reigns  in  nature  and  Providence  for  the  henejit 
of  the  church  ;  and  if  all  the  resources  of  his  wisdom 
and  power  wait  on  prayer  in  his  natural  and  providen- 
tial government,  it  is  chiefly  intended  to  subserve  and 
to  illustrate  the  greater  riches  and  resources  of  his 
grace,  in  doing  for  the  church  exceeding  abundantly 
above  what  they  can  ask  or  even  think.  The  history 
of  Israel  in  the  Old  Testament  was  a  type  of  the 
Christian  church  in  the  New  Testament  ;  and  even 
the  miraculous  power  of  prayer  and  faith  in  the  prim- 
itive church  was  symbolic  of  the  more  enduring,  and 
in  some  respects,  more  important  spiritual  energies  that 
still  reside  in  the  prayers  of  the  Christian  church. 

So  far  from  considering  the  law  of  prayer  to  be 
repealed,  or  its  power  diminished,  we  should  expect  its 
mightiest  energies  to  be  developed,  and  its  most  mar- 
vellous triumphs  displayed  in  these   latter  days,  on 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY,  41 

which  the  ends  of  the  world  are  come.  So  the  Scrip- 
tures teach.  They  forbid  us  to  look  upon  prophets 
and  apostles  as  men  of  a  different  nature  from  our- 
selves, so  exalted  above  meaner  mortals  as  to  be  no 
examples  for  us.  They  tell  us  that  even  Ehas  was  a 
man  of  like  passions  with  ourselves,  and  they  tell  us 
this  for  the  express  purpose  of  encouraging  us  to  hope 
for  like  answers  to  our  prayers.  While  we  stand  won- 
dering at  the  miracles  of  the  apostles,  and,  with  the 
polytheistic  Lycaonians,  are  almost  ready  to  offer  sacri- 
fices to  them,  as  to  superior  beings,  they  take  pains  to 
assure  us  that  they  are  ordinary  men,  and  that  this  is 
only  the  power  of  Qod  intrusted  to  them  in  answer  to 
prayer. 

The  promises  of  Christ  to  hear  prayer  are  ex- 
pressly extended  to  the  end  of  the  world  ;  and  as  all 
the  past  victories  of  the  church  have  been  triumphs  of 
prayer,  so  we  cannot  doubt  the  final  and  decisive  vic- 
tory of  the  Captain  of  our  salvation  over  the  powers 
of  darkness  (as  the  result  of  which  Satan  will  be 
bound  a  thousand  years),  will  be  a  more  impressive 
demonstration  than  has  ever  yet  been  seen,  of  the 
moral  omnipotence  of  prayer.  The  leaders  and 
captains  of  the  Lord's  host  in  that  day  will  pray  to 
the  Lord  Jehovah,  and  their  hands  will  be  stayed  up 
by  the  faith  and  prayer  of  the  priests  of  the  people  ; 
and  the  enemies  of  Israel  and  Israel's  God  will  meet 
with  an  irrecoverable  overthrow.  The  prophets  of  that 
day  will  pray  to  the  God  of  grace,  and  the  heavens 
will  be  opened,  and  the  Spirit  will  descend  in  copious 
ehowers,  and  righteousness  shall  flow  as  a  river,  and 


42  PKAYEK    FOR    COLLEGES. 

salvation  as  the  waves  of  the  sea.  The  apostles  of 
that  day  will  pray  to  the  Head  of  the  church,  who  is 
also  Head  over  all  things,  and  the  morally  impotent 
man  shall  walk  and  leap  for  joy,  and  the  spiritually 
blind  shall  see,  and  the  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins 
shall  rise  to  a  new  and  holy  life.  The  whole  church 
of  that  day  shall  be  with  one  accord  in  every  part  of 
the  world  Avaiting  and  praying  for  the  promised  Spirit 
for  the  world's  conversion,  and  (though  no  audible 
sound  may  be  heard,  and  no  rushing  mighty  wind 
shake  the  places  in  which  they  are  assembled)  the 
Spirit  shall  take  possession  of  their  hearts,  and  fill  the 
whole  earth,  and  (though  no  visible  appearance  of 
cloven  tongues,  like  as  of  fire,  may  be  seen)  the  hearts 
of  men  shall  glow  vnth  holy  love,  and  their  tongues 
shall  speak  an  unknown  language,  even  the  language 
of  heaven.  Then  will  be  realized  and  consummated 
all  and  more  than  all  that  the  soul  of  man  has  longed 
for,  and  the  course  of  nature  has  typified,  and  the  in- 
terpositions of  Providence  have  promised,  and  the 
Scriptures  have  recorded  or  predicted,  of  the  mighty 
power  of  prayer. 

But  that  consummation,  so  devoutly  to  be  wished, 
is  inseparably  connected  in  the  purpose  and  promise 
of  Grod  (and  therefore  in  the  essential  constitution  of 
things  and  the  necessary  course  of  events),  inseparably 
connected  with  the  efiectual,  fervent  prayers  of  his 
people.  Efiectual  fervent  prayer,  together  with  the 
corresponding  exertions  which  cannot  fail  to  accom- 
pany such  prayer — effectual  prayer  and  faithful  preach- 
ing by  the  ministry — fervent  prayer  and  holy  living  in 


A   PREMIUM    ESSAY.  43 

the  church — these  are  the  appointed  means  of  which 
that  consummation  is  the  certain  result  ;  these  the  ne- 
cessary antecedent,  of  which  that  is  the  infallible  con- 
sequent ;  these  the  indispensable  condition,  without 
which  that  can  no  more  be  accomplished  than  an  effect 
can  be  produced  without  a  cause.  As  well  might 
there  be  vegetation  without  rain  or  sunshine,  as  well 
might  there  be  reaping  without  sowing,  and  wealth 
without  industry  or  health,  and  strength  without  ac- 
tivity, as  the  revival  of  religion,  the  salvation  of  souls, 
and  the  conversion  of  the  world,  without  the  required 
measure  of  prayer,  as  well  as  efforts  and  sacrifices  on 
the  part  of  Christians  and  Christian  ministers.  The 
promises  of  God  all  rest  on  this  express  condition.  On 
this  condition,  and  this  onlj^,  is  his  veracity  pledged 
for  the  bestowment  of  the  promised  blessings.  We 
have  his  promissory  note,  signed  with  his  own  hand,  his 
solemn  bond  sealed  with  his  own  seal  in  the  presence 
of  many  witnesses.  But  it  is  conditional,  and  without 
the  performance  of  the  conditions  on  our  part,  it  binds 
him  no  more  than  so  much  blank  paper. 

Under  such  circumstances,  to  impute  to  him  the 
failure  of  the  promised  blessings,  or  entertain  the 
slightest  question  of  his  veracity  in  any  the  remotest 
corner  of  our  hearts,  is  to  charge  him  with  our  own 
unfeithfulness.  Nay,  "let  Grod  be  true,  and  every 
man  a  liar."  "  We  receive  not,  because  we  ask  not, 
or  we  ask  amiss,  that  we  may  consume  it  on  our  lusts." 
Shall  we  still  further  add  insult  to  injury  by  making 
him  a  liar,  and  holding  him  responsible  for  our  own 
sins  ?  Let  us  first  bring  all  the  tithes  into  the  store-r 
3 


44  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

house.  Then  he  invites  and  commands  us  to  prove 
him,  to  put  liis  veracity  to  the  test,  and  see  if  he  will  not 
open  the  windows  of  heaven  and  pour  us  out  a  blessing, 
such  that  there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to  receive  it. 
What  a  fearful  responsibility  is  devolved  on  us,  in 
that  ive  are  noiu  intrusted  with  the  power  of  prayer  ! 
Was  ever  such  a  privilege,  such  a  possession,  such  a 
power,  placed  in  the  hands  of  mortal  men  ?  And 
was  ever  property  so  undervalued,  in  our  day  at 
least  ;  was  ever  privilege  so  slighted  and  abused  ; 
was  ever  power  so  wasted,  neglected  and  despised  ? 
Perhaps  nothing  so  illustrates  and  enforces  the  duty 
of  prayer  as  the  pozver  of  prayer.  What  right  have 
we  to  leave  unappropriated  and  unapphed,  a  power 
which  God  has  appointed  for  the  salvation  of  men, 
which  Christians  in  former  ages  have  wielded  with  such 
magnificent  effect,  and  which  God  and  man,  heaven 
and  earth,  now  wait  to  see  us  put  forth  for  the  world's 
redemption  ?  The  question,  which  at  the  close  of  the 
previous  chapter  pressed  with  such  weight  upon  the 
consciences  of  professed  Christians,  here  returns  with 
double  emphasis  :  What  "  inhumanity  to  man,"  and 
what  want  of  sympathy  with  God  and  Christ,  are 
chargeable  upon  us,  if  after  all  that  has  been  done  and 
suffered  and  sacrificed  by  God  the  Father,  the  Son, 
and  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  open  the  way  for  the  efficacy 
of  prayer,  and  the  salvation  of  men,  we  fail  to  offer 
the  effectual,  fervent  prayer  of  the  righteous  man  in 
such  manner  and  measure,  as  alone,  according  to  the 
divine  plan,  can  render  these  sufferings  and  sacrifices 
efficacious  ! 


CHAPTER    III. 

Believing  Prayer  tlie  great  Desidcratnta  of  the  Cljurcli  in  our  Day — "  Wlien  the  Son 
of  Man  conicth,  shall  he  find  Faitli  on  the  Eartli?" — Too  much  occasion  to  ask 
tliis  patlietic  quoslion  now — Tho  Promise  of  our  Lord  unlimited  in  its  terms :  "All 
things  whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  Prayer,  believing,  yo  shall  receive" — To  bo 
taken  with  certain  obvious  Limitations — With  these  Limitations,  the  promise 
verified,  not  only  to  Apostles,  but  to  Common  Christians,  according  to  their  Faith 
— The  Power  of  Miracles  only  symbolic  of  the  Perpetual  Power  of  Faith  and 
Prayer  in  the  Spiritual  World — But  this  power  not  usually  appropriated,  or  even 
aspired  to  by  tho  Church  now — Exceptions — But  these  only  prove  the  rule — Tho 
Church  has  many  Wants,  but  wants  nothing  so  much  as  a  revival  of  the  primitive 
spirit  of  Faith  and  Prayer. 

In  the  parable  of  the  unjust  judge,  which  is  designed 
to  teacli  that  "  men  ought  always  to  pray  and  not  to 
faint,"  after  the  most  convincing  demonstration  that 
God  will  interpose  in  behalf  of  his  "  elect,  who  cry  day 
and  night  unto  him,"  our  Lord  concludes  with  this 
searching  inquiiy  :  ^''Nevertheless" — notwithstanding 
the  irresistible  evidence,  the  absolute  certainty  of  this 
interposition — "  Nevertheless,  when  the  Son  of  Man 
cometh,  shall  he  find  faith  on  the  earth  ?  "  Of  all  the 
touching  and  pathetic  appeals  that  fell  from  the  lips 
of  him,  who  spake  as  never  man  spake,  none  is  more 
touching,  none  more  pathetic,  than  this,  unless  it  be 
the  severe,  yet  tender  reproof,  which  he  addressed  to 
his  disciples,  when  amid  his  agony  in  the  garden,  he 
returned,  and  found  them  sleeping :  "  What  !  could 
ye  not  watch  with  me  one  hour  ? "     And  it  may  per- 


46  PllAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

haps  be  doubted,  whether  it  was  not  even  more  trying 
to  the  Saviour's  heart — a  heart  which  craved  not  only 
the  steadfast  afiection,  but  the  unwavering  confidence 
of  his  disciples — to  know  that  his  word  would  be  so 
generally  discredited  by  his  disciples  in  later  times, 
than  it  was  to  find  himself  forsaken  by  his  immediate 
followers  in  that  hour  of  brief,  though  peculiar  trial. 
Nothing  so  offends  man,  nothing  so  dishonors  God,  as 
to  question  his  veracity.  And  if  Jesus,  who  is  both 
God  and  man,  cannot  be  honored  by  the  implicit  con- 
fidence, as  well  as  the  supreme  love  of  those  for  whom 
he  died,  nothing  else  on  earth  is  of  any  value  to  him, 
and  he  loses  the  very  object  for  which  he  came  into 
the  world. 

And  yet  how  many  are  there  in  our  day  that  are 
willing  to  take  him  at  his  word,  and  expect  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  promise  in  regard  to  prayer,  in  its  obvious 
intent,  as  he  uttered  it  with  his  own  lijis,  and  left  it  on 
record  in  his  gospel  ? 

The  promise,  as  we  read  it  in  the  gospels,  is  abso- 
lute and  unlimited  :  "All  things  whatsoever  ye  shall 
ask  in  prayer,  believing,  ye  shall  receive  ; "  or,  as  it  is 
in  another  Evangelist :  "  What  things  soever  ye  de- 
sire when  ye  pray,  believe  that  ye  receive  them,  and 
ye  shall  have  them."  Of  course  this,  like  all  the  other 
promises  and  precepts  of  the  gospel  (which  are  usually 
expressed  in  singularly  bold  and  unguarded  language), 
must  be  taken  with  such  limitations  as  are  necessarily 
involved  in  the  nature  of  the  case.  The  prayer  must 
be  real  prayer,  the  faith  must  be  genuine  and  well- 
grounded  faith,  and  the  objects  must  be  proper  objects 


A    TREMIUM    ESSAY.  47 

of  desire  ;  or,  as  the  Apostle  John  defines  them, 
"  things  according  to  the  will  of  Grod."  For  this  is 
only  saying  that  the  faith  must  be  such  faith  as  the 
disciples  of  Christ  might  be  expected  to  exercise,  the 
prayer  such  prayer  as  they  would  be  likely  to  offer, 
and  the  objects  such  objects  as  they  would  naturally 
and  reasonably  desire,  under  the  divine  teaching  of  his 
Word  and  Spirit.  Without  such  limitations,  the 
promise  was  not  fulfilled  to  the  very  chief  of  the  apos- 
tles. With  these  necessary  and  obvious  limitations, 
it  was  literally  and  gloriously  fulfilled  to  the  entire 
body  of  the  primitive  disciples.  And  in  their  un- 
doubting  reliance  on  this  promise,  in  their  habitual 
use  of  this  divine  weapon,  lay  the  secret  of  their 
strength,  and  the  certainty  of  their  triumph.  By  this 
they  wrought  those  signs  and  wonders  which  struck 
the  senses  of  the  multitude  ;  and  by  this  they  achieved 
those  greater  miracles  of  moral  power,  and  saving 
mercy,  which  subdued  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

With  the  same,  or  similar  limitations, — that  is, 
such  as  grow  obviously  and  necessarily  out  of  the  na- 
ture of  the  case,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  times, — 
the  promise  is  just  as  real,  just  as  literal,  just  as  reli- 
able, just  as  full  of  truth  and  power  now,  as  it  ever 
was.  All  things  whatsover  that  we  ask  in  real  prayer, 
and  genuine,  well-grounded  faith,  according  to  the  will 
of  God,  we  shall  receive.  In  other  words,  whatever  we 
ask  under  the  divine  teaching  and  influence  of  the 
truth  and  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  will  surely  be  granted. 
The  promise  is  not  obsolete,  its  power  is  not  extin- 
guished, or  even  impaired.     There  is  nothing  in  its 


48  PllAYEli    FOR    COLLEGES. 

terms  to  limit  it  to  the  apostles  or  the  primitive 
church  ;  neither  is  there  in  the  natm-e  of  the  case. 
Inspiration  has  indeed  ceased,  but  spiritual  illumina- 
tion may,  and  often  does,  and  should  everywhere,  take 
its  place.  Signs  and  wonders  have  come  to  an  end, 
but  moral  miracles  may  be,  and  should  be  of  every-day 
occurrence.  We  cannot  be  supernaturally  inspired  to 
utter  a  word  which  shall,  with  infallible  certainty,  be 
followed  by  the  exertion  of  a  supernatural  power  ;  but 
we  can  be  divinely  moved  to  the  use  of  means,  which 
we  are  authorized  confidently  to  expect  will  be  accom- 
panied by  a  divine  energy ;  we  can  be  taught  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  to  offer  prayers,  which  we  may  be  sure 
God  will  answer,  by  granting  our  requests.  "  DeligJit 
thyself  in  the  Lord,  and  he  will"  still  "  give  thee  the 
desires  of  thy  heart."  "  Have  faith  in  God,"  live  in 
habitual  sym'pathy  and  communion  with  him,  and 
mountains  of  difficulty  and  opposition  shall  be  removed 
out  of  the  way.  "  If  ye  abide  in  me,  and  my  words 
abide  in  you,  ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be 
done  unto  you."  The  time  may  be  delayed,  the  man- 
ner may  be  unexpected,  but  sooner  or  later,  in  some 
form  or  other,  the  answer  is  sure  to  come.  Not  a  tear 
of  sacred  sorrow,  not  a  breath  of  holy  desire,  poured 
out  in  prayer  to  God,  will  ever  be  lost  ;  but,  in  God's 
own  best  time  and  way,  it  will  be  wafted  back  again 
in  clouds  of  mercy,  and  fall  in  showers  of  blessing  on 
you  and  those  for  whom  you  pray. 

The  manner  may  be  different  now  from  what  it 
was  in  the  Old  Testament  or  in  the  New  ;  but  the 
principle,  the  spirit,  the  power  is  the  same.     We  can- 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  49 

not  talk  with  God  face  to  face  like  Abraham,  nor  open 
and  shut  the  heavens  like  Elijah  ;  nor  heal  the  sick, 
and  raise  the  dead,  like  Peter  and  John  and  Paul. 
But  our  importunate  intercessions  may  save  many  a 
Sodom  from  temporal  and  eternal  destruction  ;  and 
our  oft-repeated  supplications,  bowing  ourselves  low  in 
the  dust  seven  times  before  the  Lord,  though  at  the 
seventh  time  the  only  favorable  sign  shall  be  a  cloud 
no  bigger  than  a  man's  hand,  may  bring  down  copious 
showers  of  spiritual,  aye,  and  temporal  blessings,  on 
the  parched  places  of  the  earth  ;  and  our  prayer  of 
faith  may  heal  the  sick,  and  the  Lord  shall  even  raise 
up  those  who  are  quite  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins. 
The  most  marvellous  displays  of  divine  power  that 
ever  attended  on  the  word  of  prophets  and  apostles  are 
but  the  STjmhols  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  power  of 
believing  prayer  in  our  age,  and  only  shadows  of  still 
o-reater  and  better  things  that  are  to  come  in  the  last 
days. 

Thus  sure  is  the  word  of  promise  to  us  and  our 
children  ;  thus  mighty  is  the  power  of  prayer  in  our 
day  ;  nevertheless,  as  the  Son  of  Man  looks  down  upon 
the  churches,  does  he  find  faith  on  the  earth  ?  Alas  ! 
ours  is  an  unbelieving  age  ;  an  age  of  skepticism  in 
the  world,  and  feeble  faith  in  the  church,  and  there- 
fore of  weakness  in  all  high  moral  and  spiritual  enter- 
prises. So  far  from  leaning  on  the  promise  of  Christ 
as  our  staff,  and  wielding  it  as  the  weapon  of  our  spiri- 
tual power,  we  generally  regard  it  as  obsolete,  meant 
only  for  apostles,  or,  at  most,  the  primitive  Christians,- 
and  of  use  now  only  to  be  hung  up  among  other  an- 
3 


SU  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

tiquities  of  the  church,  Hke  rusty  pieces  of  antiquateii'^ 
armor,  in  proof  that  "  there  were  giants  in  those  days." 
True,  we  meet  with  now  and  then  a  poor  widow 
who  trusts  the  promise  of  God  in  little  and  great 
things,  and  never  doubts  that  all  will  be  well  with  her 
and  her  fatherless  children.  And  according  to  her 
faith,  so  it  is  unto  her.  Her  cruse  of  oil  is  never 
empty,  her  barrel  of  meal  never  fails.  Never  a  want 
of  her  life  is  left  unsupplied,  never  a  desire  of  her 
heart  but  is  sooner  or  later  gratified,  even  as  never  a 
doubt  clouds  her  belief  that  the  Lord  will  provide. 
Here  and  there  "  a  mother  in  Israel,"  too,  takes  God 
at  his  word,  and  labors  and  prays  for  individual  after 
individual  in  her  class,  and  for  one  class  after  another 
in  her  Sabbath-school,  till  every  individual  of  every 
class  that  has  passed  under  her  instructions  is  hope-, 
fully  converted  ;  and  when  at  length,  full  of  years  and 
of  labors,  she  ceases  from  her  work,  she  has  the  unspeak- 
able happiness  not  only  of  seeing  her  own  children 
walking  in  the  truth,  and  filling  stations  of  eminent 
usefulness,  but  of  knowing  that  her  spiritual  children 
are  multiphed  and  scattered,  like  good  seed,  broadcast 
over  the  land.  Sometimes  a  Mary  Lyon  is  raised  up 
mth  faith  enough  to  found  Holyoke  Seminary,  in  the 
face  of  an  unbeheving  church  and  a  sneering  world, 
and  with  prayer  enough  to  secure  a  special  revival  of 
religion  in  it  every  year  of  her  life.  The  secret  of 
those  wonderful  revivals  was  never  understood  till 
after  her  death,  when  they  were  found,  in  almost  every 
instance,  to  have  been  preceded  by  special  seasons  of 
persevering  secret  prayer.     She  was  as  remarkable  for 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  51 

faith  and  prayer  as  she  was  for  benevolence  and  untir- 
ing energy  ;  she  expected  great  things,  she  attempted 
great  things,  and,  with  the  blessing  of  Heaven,  she  ac- 
complished great  things  for  the  education  of  her  sex 
and  the  redemption  of  mankind.  And  not  a  few  of 
that  class  of  women,  of  whom  Paul  speaks  with  honor, 
as  "  caring  for  the  things  of  the  Lord,"  but  whom  the 
world  seldom  names  except  in  terms  of  reproach,  will 
be  found  to  have  "  their  names  written  in  heaven,"  as 
those  who,  while  they  blessed  mankind  by  their  self- 
denying  charities,  have  "  had  power  with  God,  and 
prevailed"  in  believing  prayer. 

Now  and  then  a  layman  in  the  church,  as  he  fol- 
lows his  daily  occupation,  makes  a  business  also  of  con- 
versing on  personal  religion  with  those  who  fall  in  his 
way,  and  are  associated  with  him,  and  at  the  same 
time  bears  them  on  the  arras  of  faith  and  prayer  con- 
tinually ;  and  though  his  life,  like  his  Master's,  is 
short,  his  reward,  like  his,  is  great,  and  he  goes  up  to 
cast  at  his  Eedeem'er's  feet  a  crown  jewelled  with 
scores,  perhaps  hundreds,  of  precious  souls.  Now  and 
then  a  young  man  in  college  behoves  in  the  efficacy  of 
prayer  and  corresponding  effort  for  the  conversion  of 
his  classmates  and  companions  in  study,  and  he  does 
more  good  in  college  than  most  educated  men  do  in  a 
long  life. 

Now  and  then  a  minister  of  the  gospel  enters  into 
the  very  spirit  of  the  Kedeemer's  promise.  He  does 
not  surjDass  his  ministerial  brethren,  perhaps  is  inferior 
to  many  of  them,  in  talents  and  literary  attainments. 
But  he  baptizes  every  sermon  with  prayer,  and  leavens 


52  PKAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

every  conversation  with  ftiith.  He  "  goeth  forth  and 
weepeth,  bearing  precious  seed  ; "  every  kernel  seems 
to  fall  on  good  gi'ound,  and  all  the  ground  is  moistened 
with  the  dews  and  rains  of  heaven  ;  and  ever  and  anon, 
he  "  comes  again  with  rejoicing,  bringing  his  sheaves 
with  liim."  But  he  is  regarded  as  a  kind  of  prodigy,  that 
hardly  belongs  to  this  world  ;  at  best,  as  a  miracle  and 
an  anomaly  in  the  present  age  ;  and  he  is  looked  on  not 
only  with  wonder  for  his  success,  but  with  some  doubts 
of  his  orthodoxy,  and  not  a  few  fears  for  his  audacity. 
His  people,  who  have  learned  from  their  pastor  to  be 
"  strong  in  faith,  giving  glory  to  God,"  are  a  sort  of 
oasis  in  the  desert,  wet  habitually  with  copious  dews, 
like  Gideon's  fleece,  while  all  is  dry  around  them. 
They  enjoy  a  perpetual  revival,  while  others,  only  on 
rare  occasions,  catch  their  spirit  of  believing  prayer, 
and  share  in  their  spiritual  blessings.  As  they  are 
honored  with  the  constant  presence  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  here,  so  hereafter  such  a  minister  and  his  people 
will  shine  together  "as  the  brightness  of  the  firma- 
ment, and  as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever." 

The  late  venerable  Dr.  Judson  was  a  rare  example 
of  close  approximation  to  apostolic  faith  and  power. 
Not  satisfied  with  translating  the  Scriptures  into  the 
language  of  the  Burmans,  he  was  intent  on  preaching 
the  gospel  with  his  own  lips  where  no  one  else  would 
penetrate.  The  jungles  of  the  Karens  rose  up  and 
called  him  blessed,  and  the  wilderness  blossomed  be- 
fore him  as  the  rose.  He  was  pre-eminently  a  man 
of  prayer,  and  in  a  good  old  age,  he  bore  this  testimony 
to  the  faithfulness  of  a  prayer-hearing  and  covenant- 


A    PllEMIUM    ESSAY,  53 

keeping  God  :  "  I  never  was  deeply  interested  in  any 
object,  I  never  prayed  sincerely  and  earnestly  for  any 
thing,  but  it  came  ;  at  some  time — no  matter  at  how 
distant  a  day — somehow,  in  some  shape,  probably  the 
last  I  should  have  devised,  it  came."  *  And  yet  even 
Judson  was  "frightened"  at  the  seeming  audacity  of 
such  an  assertion,  and  hardly  knew  whether  the  weak- 
ness or  the  boldness  of  his  faith  were  the  more  deserv- 
ing of  reproof  i  t    * 

In  short,  all  these  sketches  (which  we  have  drawn 
from  real  life,  though  only  in  two  or  three  instances 
have  we  mentioned  names)  are  so  manifestly  excep- 
tions, that  they  only  prove  the  rule.  They  demon- 
strate the  power  of  a  primitive  faith,  but  they  also 
mark  by  contrast  the  feebleness  of  an  unbelieving  and 
degenerate  age.  Faith  is  the  exception,  the  rule  is 
unbelief  We  can  only  touch  upon  a  few  of  the  lead- 
ing facts  that  substantiate  this  proposition.  Nor  need 
we.  It  stands  proved  and  confessed  in  the  very  won- 
der with  which  we  look  back  upon  the  faith  of  the 
primitive  church  as  purely  miraculous,  and  in  the  min- 
gled distrust  and  amazement  with  which  we  regard 
the  like  faith  in  those  exceptional  cases  which  do 
occur  in  modern  times,  as  deluded  enthusiasm,  or  at 
best  unwarranted  presumption.  We  do  not  even 
aspire  to  such  honor  and  power  with  God,  but  frankly 
and  freely  disavow  all  right  and  title  to  it. 

The  members  of  the  primitive  church,  "  all  with 
one  accord  in  one  place/'  waited  in  earnest,  importu- 

*  Memoir  by  Dr.  Wayland,  vol,  ii,,  p.  37. 


54  PRAYER   FOR    COLLEGES. 

nate  and  believing  prayer,  till  they  were  enduecl  with 
power  for  the  arduous  work  of  saving  a  world  wholly 
given  up  to  idolatry.  Where  is  such  a  prayer-meeting 
to  be  found  now-a-days — all  ivith  one  accord  in  one 
place  ?  And  where  is  such  waiting  seen — waiting  for 
the  providence  and  the  Spirit  of  God,  not  to  do  their 
work  for  them,  but  to  work  in  and  by  them,  and  give 
them  a  power  which  nothing  could  gainsay  or  resist  ? 
There  is  enough  waiting  for  divine  sovereignty  to  do 
its  own  work  without  human  agency,  and  there  is 
much  running  of  human  agency  without  being  divinely 
commissioned  or  empowered.  But  where  is  that  beau- 
tiful union  of  waiting  and  running,  and  that  har- 
monious co-operation  of  human  instrumentality  and 
divine  efficiency,  which  so  marked  and  energized  and 
blessed  the  primitive  church  ? 

The  seven  deacons  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem 
were  all  "men  full  of  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost." 
Where  now  is  the  church  that  is  blessed  with  such  a 
deaconry,  or  even  such  a  ministry  ?  Nay,  too  many 
churches  now-a-days  do  not  even  aspire  to  the  posses- 
sion of  such  officers.  They  do  not  asJc  in  reference  to 
a  minister  even,  "  Is  he  a  man  of  piety  and  prayer  ? 
is  he  full  of  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost  ?"  but,  "  Is  he 
a  smart  man  ?  is  he  a  good  speaker  ?  has  he  a  fine 
voice  and  manner  and  person  ?  will  he  sell  the  pews, 
and  build  up  the  society  ?  "  They  cannot  be  expected 
to  pray,  certainly  not  in  public  ;  it  is  for  this  very 
purpose  that  they  hire  their  minister.  If  they  go  to 
the  prayer-meeting,  it  is  only  on  condition  that  the 
niinister  shall  do  all  the  praying  as  well  as  all  the  talk- 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  55 

ing.  If  they  desire  to  see  conversions  in  the  house  of 
God,  they  expect  them  to  be  the  results  of  their  pas- 
tor's preaching  and  not  of  their  prayers.  How  unlike 
the  lay-ministry,  "  the  royal  priesthood,"  that  made 
up  the  primitive  church,  who,  while  permitted  to  re- 
main at  Jerusalem,  prayed  without  ceasing,  and  when 
scattered  by  persecution,  went  every  where  preaching 
the  word  !  Even  the  missionary  concert  has  degene- 
rated very  much  into  a  lecture-room  for  the  communi- 
cation of  missionary  intelligence,  and  the  conversion  of 
the  world  is  to  be  accomplished  by  machinery,  and 
money  and  men,  rather  than  by  the  power  of  God  sent 
down  from  heaven  in  answer  to  prayer. 

Ministers  themselves  fall  in  with  the  current,  and 
wear  themselves  out  in  the  preparation  of  polished  ser- 
mons, with  too  little  prayer  for  the  presence  of  that 
Spirit  who  alone  can  give  power  to  a  sermon,  either  in 
the  composition  or  the  delivery.  Colleges  and  Theo- 
logical Seminaries  are  strongly  tempted  to  meet  the 
popular  demand  with  a  corresponding  supply,  and 
bend  their  energies  too  exclusively  to  the  education  of 
accomplished  scholars  and  eloquent  orators  for  the  j)ul- 
pit,  perchance  for  mere  secular  employments,  while 
the  heart,  the  seat  of  all  life  and  power,  is  compara- 
tively neglected. 

When  the  church  and  the  ministry  are  so  secular- 
ized in  matters  properly  religious,  it  is  hardly  to  be 
expected  that  they  will  carry  much  of  the  power  of 
prayer  or  vital  godliness  into  political  and  public  af- 
fairs. Their  weapons  are  too  often  not  spiritual, 
mighty  through  God,  but  carnal,  and  all  too  weak  to 


56  PllAYEU    FOR    COLLEGES. 

pull  down  the  strongholds  of  corruption  and  oppression 
in  high  places.  Not  that  they  send  too  many  petitions 
to  their  civil  rulers,  but  they  carry  too  few  to  the 
throne  of  Him  who  ruleth  on  earth  and  in  heaven. 
Not  that  they  vote  or  agitate  too  much.  Far  from  it. 
It  is  their  sacred  duty  to  vote.  Agitation  is  essential 
to  the  purity,  nay,  to  the  vitality  of  the  moral  and 
political  atmosphere.  But  they  rely  too  much  on  vot- 
ing and  agitating,  too  little  on  unceasing  prayer  in 
private  and  in  public,  in  the  famUy,  in  the  social  cir- 
cle, and  in  the  house  of  God. 

We  say  these  things  in  sorrow,  not  in  anger,  nor 
in  the  spirit  of  censoriousness.  Croaking,  like  birds 
of  evil  omen,  is  our  utter  abhorrence.  But  we  are 
painfully  convinced  of  the  truth  and  necessity  of  what 
we  have  said,  therefore  have  we  spoken.  The  house 
of  God,  the  prayer-meeting,  the  closets,  and  the  con- 
sciences of  Christians,  do  they  not  all  bear  witness  to 
a  sad  derehction  of  duty  in  this  respect  ?  We  need 
more  money  and  more  men,  we  need  more  activity  and 
more  benevolence,  we  need  better  teachers  and  better 
preachers  ;  but  we  need  nothing  so  much  as  a  revival 
of  the  primitive  spirit  of  faith  and  prayer  in  the 
churches.  We  need  to  be  converted,  and  become  as 
little  children,  in  the  simplicity  of  our  trust  and  confi- 
dence. Then  should  we  know  the  meaning  of  Chris- 
tian ^^hravery,"  of  Christian  ^^  gladness  and  single- 
ness of  heart."  Faith  is  courage.  Faith  is  power, 
and  want  of  faith  is  weakness.  It  is  so  in  every  thing. 
It  is  emphatically  so  in  religion.  Christians  can  be 
strong  only  in  faith  and  prayer.     If  weak  here,  the 


A   PREMIUM    ESSAY.  57 

right  arm  of  their  strength  is  broken,  and  they  can 
expect  nothing  but  shameful  discomfiture  in  the  end 
of  all  their  enterprises.  Unless  Christians  can  be 
stirred  up,  and  that  speedily,  to  more  earnest,  con- 
stant and  believing  prayer  for  the  church,  the  comitry 
and  the  world,  and  especially  for  our  colleges  ;  in 
which,  as  we  shall  now  endeavor  to  show,  the  hopes  of 
the  church,  the  country  and  the  world,  all  centre  ; 
worldliness  and  ungodliness  will  continue  to  come  in 
like  a  flood,  sweeping  away  the  dearest  interests  of 
men  for  this  life,  and  their  brightest  hopes  for  the  next, 
till  at  length,  in  answer  to  the  supplications  of  a  more 
prayerful  and  believing  age,  the  Spirit  of  God  shall 
lift  up  a  standard  against  them.  God  will  never 
honor  those  that  will  not  honor  him  ;  and  he  will 
never  repeal  that  great  law  of  his  spiritual  kingdom  : 
"Be  it  unto  thee  according  to  thy  faith." 


3* 


CHAPTER   IV. 

Colleges— Their  Origin,  Design,  and  History— English  in  their  Germ,  but  American 
in  their  Development— The  College  not  a  University— More  like  Eton,  Rugby, 
and  the  German  Gymnasia — An  Educational  Institution — Self-educated  Men  con- 
scious of  their  Deficiencies — Franklin,  "Washington,  Clay — College  Studies — Col- 
lege Officers— Students  discipline  each  other — Eise  and  Progress  of  American 
Colleges — College  Education  the  established  Policy  of  the  American  People— An 
essential  Element  in  American  Society— Educates  the  Leading  Minds— The  right 
Age— A  sort  of  Family  Organization— Parental  Government  and  Influence— Col- 
leges are  Permanent  Foundations,  and  tend  to  perpetuate  an  Educated  Ministry, 
Magistracy,  Ac— The  Keystone  of  our  Educational  System,  and  the  Corner- 
stone of  our  Institutions— The  enlightened  Christian  and  Patriot  cannot  but  pray 
for  these  Foundations  of  Many  Generations. 


Our  educational,  like  our  political  and  religious  insti- 
tutions, were  derived,  though  not  servilely  copied,  from 
those  of  the  mother  country  ;  and  the  former,  not 
less  than  the  latter,  were  coeval  with  our  national  ex- 
istence. It  is  a  striking  characteristic  of  American 
history,  that  it  cannot,  like  that  of  the  nations  of  the 
Old  World,  be  traced  back  to  an  obscure  and  barba- 
rous antiquity.  Born  and  nurtured  beneath  the  bright 
light  of  Christianity  and  modern  civilization,  it  has, 
from  the  first,  been  "  kno^vn  and  read  of  all  men  ; " 
and  from  the  first,  it  has  been  a  history  of  law  and 
order,  of  light  and  knowledge,  of  well-organized  and 
well-sustained  hterary,  as  well  as  political  and  religious 
institutions. 

Our  system  of  college  education  is  Enghsh  in  its 


A    I'KEMIUM    ESSAY.  59 

germ,  but  American  in  its  development.  Like  the 
American  people,  it  has  cast  off  the  bondage  of  pre- 
scription and  the  unbending  rigidity  of  English  insti- 
tutions, and  put  on  a  flexibility  suited  to  the  altered 
circumstances  of  a  young  nation  in  a  new  world.  It 
has  not,  however,  cut  loose  from  the  past.  It  has  not 
broken  away  from  all  respect  for  time-honored  usages 
and  pursuits.  At  once  conservative  and  progressive 
in  its  spirit,  it  strives  to  preserve  a  due  medium  be- 
tween a  bigoted  attachment  to  all  that  is  old,  and  an 
indiscriminate  passion  for  all  that  is  new.  Not  less 
scientific  than  classical  in  its  course  of  studies,  it  aims 
to  engraft  the  science  of  the  moderns  on  the  wisdom 
of  the  ancients.  Its  anchor  takes  firm  hold  on  the 
past,  but  its  sails  are  set,  and  its  prow  directed  to  a 
more  brilliant  future. 

An  American  college  is  not  a  university,  still  less  a 
mere  foundation  in  a  university,  as  in  England.  It 
resembles  more  nearly  the  preparatory  schools,  such  as 
Eton  and  Kugby,  in  the  British  Isles,  and  the  Gymna- 
sia on  the  continent.  Yet  it  differs  in  so  many  respects 
from  any  European  institution,  that  it  has  sometimes 
been  pronounced  unique  and  peculiar  to  America.  It 
has  even  been  called  an  Americanism. 

The  place  which  the  college  holds  among  all  the 
means  of  public  instruction  at  Jiome,  is  not  less  broadly 
and  definitely  marked.  Quite  distinct  from  the  com- 
mon school  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  the  professional 
seminary  on  the  other,  though  sustaining  important 
relations  to  both,  the  college  is  intended  to  lay  a  broad 
foundation  in  a  thoroughly  disciplined  mind  for   all 


60  PIlAYElt    FOR    COLLEGES. 

liberal  culture,  for  all  high  attuinmcnts  and  achieve- 
ments. Its  principal  aim  is  to  develo^ie  and  discipline 
the  faculties,  to  call  them  into  strenuous  exercise,  and 
impart  to  them  a  healthy  tone,  and  train  them  for 
energetic,  yet  well  balanced  action  ;  to  give  strength, 
beauty,  and  symmetry  to  the  intellectual  and  moral 
powers  :  in  a  word,  to  educate  the  whole  man.  College 
is  properly  and  pre-eminently  an  educational  institu- 
tion. And  so  thoroughly  is  this  fact  wrought  into  the 
consciousness  of  the  community,  that,  in  common  par- 
lance, an  educated  man  is  a  man  that  has  received  it 
college  education. 

We  have,  indeed,  had  our  self-educated  men,  and 
some  of  them  have  acted  a  very  distinguished  part  in 
the  history  of  our  country  ;  but  as  a  general  fact,  sclf- 
educated  men  are  uneducated,  or  /la^-educated  at  the 
best.  They  usually  betray,  if  not  a  want  of  discipline 
and  knowledge,  at  least  a  want  of  symmetry  and  com- 
pleteness. They  are  not  safe  guides.  They  generally 
prove  inadequate  to  trying  emergencies  ;  and  the 
wisest  and  best  men  of  this  class  have  been  among  the 
foremost  to  recognize  the  necessity,  and  to  aid  in  the 
advancement,  of  college  education.  The  sagacious 
Franklin,  with  the  good  sense  which  was  characteristic 
of  him,  drew  up  a  project  for  the  foundation  of  a  col- 
lege, in  which  he  strongly  recommended  the  study  of 
the  ancient  languages  for  all  the  students,  and  insists 
on  it  for  those  who  intend  to  engage  in  the  learned 
professions. 

"  The  Father  of  his  Country"  was  a  self-made 
man  ;  but  he  felt  the  deficiency,  and  had  recourse  to 


A    rUEMIUM    EScSAY.  61 

a  graduate  of  Columbia  College  (Alexander  Hamilton) 
in  the  preparation  of  his  most  important  State  Papers, 
In  his  own  writings,  he  often  showed  a  want  of  that 
minute  accuracy  which  belongs  to  a  thoroughly  edu- 
cated man,  so  that  President  Sparks,  with  or  without 
sufficient  reason,  felt  under  the  necessity  of  sometimes 
correcting  his  language,  when  he  edited  his  correspond- 
ence. And  with  the  magnanimity  and  public  spirit 
fur  which  he  was  so  remarkable,  he  bore  testimony  to 
the  value  of  the  literary  advantages  which  he  did  not 
enjoy,  by  laying  the  foundation  of  a  college  in  his  na- 
tive State,  which  honors,  while  it  is  honored  by,  the 
name  of  Washington.  "-•'•■ 

The  distinguished  orator  and  statesman  of  Ken- 
tucky was  a  self-taught  man.  But  bitterly  did  he  de- 
plore his  limited  opportunities  for  early  education. 
Especially  in  some  of  his  severe  conflicts  with  John 
Eandolph  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  when  taunted  by 
him  on  the  incorrect  use  of  a  word,  Henry  Clay  woidd 
acknowledge,  with  tears,  the  disadvantage  which  he 
suffered,  owing  to  the  want  of  that  liberal  education 
which  his  antagonist  had  enjoyed. 

The  excellence  of  classical  studies  can  hardly  be 
better  expressed  than  in  the  language  of  Franklin,  in 
the  project  above  mentioned  :  "  When  youth  are  told 
that  the  great  men  whose  lives  and  actions  they  read 
in  history  spoke  two  of  the  best  languages  that  ever 
were,  the  most  expressive,  coj)ious,  beautiful,  and  that 
the  finest  writings,  the  most  correct  compositions,  the 

*  Washington  College,  Lexington,  Va.,  was  originally  endowed  by 
"Washington  with  stock,  which  yields  about  $2500  annually. 


62  PRAYEli    FOli    COLLEGES. 

most  perfect  productions  of  wit  and  wisdom,  are  in 
those  languages  which  have  endured  for  ages,  and  will 
endure  while  there  are  men  ;  that  no  translation  can 
do  them  justice,  or  give  the  pleasure  found  in  reading 
the  originals  ;  that  those  languages  contain  all  sci- 
ence ;  that  one  of  them  is  become  almost  universal, 
being  the  language  of  learned  men  in  all  countries  ; 
and  that  to  understand  them  is  a  distinguished  orna-. 
ment, — they  may  be  made  thereby  desirous  of  learning 
those  languages,  and  their  industry  sharpened  in  the 
acquisition  of  them."  * 

Besides  classical  studies  (which  are  thus  warmly 
and  justly  commended  by  Franklin),  and  the  study  of 
their  own  vernacular  tongue,  togethei-  with  perhaps 
one  or  two  of  the  other  modern  languages,  young  men 
in  college  applj'-  themselves  chiefly  to  the  study  of 
mathematics  and  j^hysical  and  mental  science,  which, 
while  they  are  admirably  adapted  to  discipline  the  in- 
tellectual powers,  are  also  designed  to  make  the  stu- 
dent acquainted  with  himself  and  the  world  he  lives 
in  ;  and  so  with  that  infinite  Being — the  highest  of  all 
the  objects  of  knowledge — who  is  the  Maker  both  of 
man  and  of  the  universe,  and  the  original  Author  of  all 
the  science  that  pertains  to  both. 

Their  teachers  also  are  expected  to  be  men  of 
thorough  academical  education,  who  have  themselves 
travelled  over  all  the  road,  and  are  able  to  j)oint  the 
way  to  others  ;  who  are  themselves  the  embodiment 
of  literature   and  science,  and  the  patterns  of  that 

*  See  Appendix  to  Sparks'  Life  of  Franklin. 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  63 

liberal  culture  which  results  from  such  studies  ;  whose 
large  acquaintance  with  the  productions  of  men  in 
every  age,  and  Avith  the  works  of  Grod,  has  raised  them 
above  the  low  prejudices  of  time  and  place,  carried 
them  be^^ond  the  narrow  bounds  of  what  is  merely 
local  and  temporary,  and  planted  their  feet  in  the  vast 
open  field  of  comprehensive  wisdom,  and  on  the  solid 
basis  of  immutable  truth  ;  but  who  are  yet  men,  with 
lively  human  sympathies,  and  fresh  youthful  feelings, 
— old  heads  on  young  shoulders  ;  who  will  delight  to 
take  young  men  by  the  hand,  and  go  over  the  whole 
field  of  knowledge  with  them,  as  if  it  were  as  new  to 
them  as  it  is  to  their  pupils  ;  and  to  work  out  with 
them  anew,  or  rather  set  them  to  working  out,  each 
one  for  himself,  under  their  guidance,  the  great  prob- 
lems of  life  and  of  the  universe. 

Aside  from  the  direct  influence  of  the  best  studies 
pursued  under  the  best  masters,  students  in  college 
derive  from  their  intercourse  and  communion  with  each 
other  an  invaluable  discipline.  Proceeding  from  all 
classes  in  society,  and  all  parts  of  the  country,  bring- 
ing together  their  divers  talents,  tastes,  habits  and  at- 
tainments, and  acting  and  reacting  upon  one  another 
by  constant  contact  and  collision  during  four  years, 
and  those  among  the  most  plastic  and  decisive  years 
of  their  lives,  they  of  necessity  lose  their  idiosyncracies 
and  provincial  peculiarities  and  narrow  prejudices  in  a 
broad,  genial  and  hberal  humanity  ;  they  rub  ofi"  their 
sharp  corners  and  projecting  asperities,  and  are  re- 
duced to  a  more  rounded  symmetry  and  polished 
smoothness  ;  they  are  brought  down  from  their  vanity 


64  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

and  self-conceit,  or  brought  up  from  their  self-distrust 
and  timidity,  and  each  one  finds  the  proper  level  of 
his  own  talents  and  attainments, — as  shapeless  opaque 
substances,  dissolved  in  a  fluid,  assume  forms  of  order 
and  beauty  ;  as  the  very  stones  of  the  brook  are  worn 
by  each  other,  and  by  the  running  water,  to  rotundity 
and  polish. 

Eeceiving  students  from  all  ranks  and  conditions, 
and  sending  them  out  again  into  all  the  professions, 
and  the  higher  walks  of  life,  the  college,  like  the 
ocean,  forms  a  connecting  link  among  the  fountains  of 
influence,  and  a  medium  of  communication  and  circu- 
lation between  them  and  the  streams.  Not  a  section 
of  the  country,  but  pours  into  it  larger  or  smaller  trib- 
utary streams.  Scarce  a  city  or  village,  scarce  a 
church  or  school,  but  receives  back  more  or  less  abun- 
dant showers  of  refreshing  influence.  Planted  by  our 
fathers  in  the  wilderness  side  by  side  with  repuhlican 
liberty  and  'primitive  Christianity,  college  education 
has  grown  with  their  growth,  and  strengthened  with 
their  strength,  till  now,  like  three  stately  trees,  of  dif- 
ferent form  and  kind,  of  separate  life  and  organization, 
yet  lending  each  to  each  mutual  support,  borrowing 
each  from  the  others  an  added  beauty,  and  each  essen- 
tial to  the  perfection,  if  not  to  the  very  existence,  of 
the  others  ;  they  have  struck  their  blended  roots  deep 
into  every  acre  of  our  soil,  and  spread  their  interlaced 
branches  wide  over  all  the  land,  and  men  of  every  class 
and  condition  sit  beneath  their  common  shade,  and  eat 
in  abundance  of  their  diverse,  yet  wholesome  fruit. 

Harvard  College  was  founded  in  1638,  only  eigli- 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  65 

teen  years  after  the  first  landing  on  Plymouth  Rock  ; 
when  Boston  was  a  small  village  of  not  more  than 
twenty  or  thirty  houses,  and  when  only  twenty-five 
towns  had  begun  to  be  settled  in  Massachusetts.  It 
was  one  of  the  first  things  our  Pilgrim  Fathers  thought 
of,  and,  as  Cotton  Mather  well  says,  "  it  was  the  best 
thing  they  ever  thought  of"  It  was  ever  after  cher- 
ished and  provided  for  as  a  child,  not  only  by  appro- 
priations from  the  Legislature,  but  by  voluntary  con- 
tributions of  money  or  produce  from  the  poorest  of  the 
people.  Its  constitution  forms  a  part  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  State,  and  its  life  and  history  are  insepara- 
ble from  those  of  the  Commonwealth  for  nearly  two 
hundred  years,  during  the  greater  part  of  which  time 
it  furnished  nearly  all  the  ministers  and  magistrates 
of  old  Massachusetts.  It  rendered  the  same  service 
also  to  Connecticut,  and  the  other  New  England  colo- 
nies, till  (feeling  the  necessity  for  a  similar  institution 
which  should  stand  in  the  same  near  and  intimate  re- 
lation to  their  own  organic  life,  to  their  own  political 
and  religious  history)  a  few  clergymen  marked  the 
commencement  of  a  new  century  by  founding  Yale  Col- 
lege in  1700,  bringing  a  selection  of  books  from  their 
private  libraries — forty  volumes  in  aU — saying,  "  These 
books  we  give  for  the  founding  of  a  college  in  Connec- 
ticut." William  and  Mary  College,  in  Virginia,  was 
estabhshed  a  few  years  earlier  than  Yale. 

The  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  marked 
again  by  the  establishment  of  the  three  oldest  and 
most  important  institutions  of  the  Middle  States  ;  the 
College  of  New  Jersey,  founded  at  Princeton,  in  1746, 


66  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

* 

and  honored  alike  by  it  a  venerable  line  of  presidents 
and  its  illustrious  catalogue  of"  graduates  ;  Columbia 
College,  founded  at  New  York,  in  1754,  and  then 
called  King's  College,  though  it  educated  something 
better  than  kings  or  courtiers  ;  and  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  established  one  year  later,  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  The  middle  of  the  last  half  of  the 
same  century  was  also  characterized  by  the  founding 
of  Brown  University  in  Khode  Island,  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege in  New  Hampshire,  Dickinson  College  at  Carlisle, 
in  Pennsylvania  ;  Hampden  Sydney  College  in  Vir- 
ginia, Charleston  College  in  Charleston,  South  Caro- 
lina ;  and  the  University  of  Georgia,  at  Athens  :  the 
first  two  established  a  little  before,  and  the  others  just 
after,  the  war  of  the  Eevolution.  The  close  of  the 
century  was  signalized  by  the  appearance,  in  rapid 
succession,  of  a  whole  galaxy  of  stars  in  our  literary 
firmament  ;  the  Universities  of  Vermont  and  North 
Carolina  in  1791,  Williams  College  in  1793,  Bowdoin 
in  1794,  Union  College  in  1795,  Middlebury  in  1800, 
and  Jefferson  College  and  the  Universities  of  Ohio  and 
South  Carolina  in  1802. 

A  season  of  less  activity  ensued ;  a  sort  of  lull  be- 
tween the  political  impulse  communicated  by  the 
Eevolution,  and  the  new  religious  life  wliicli  was  im- 
parted by  missions  and  revivals  in  1820  ;  though,  dur- 
ing this  interval,  Hamilton  College  was  founded  in 
1812,  and  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1814.  About 
the  year  1820,  commenced  a  new  era  in  the  history  of 
colleges  (of  which  we  shall  speak  more  particularly  in 
another   chapter),  during   which   new   colleges,  from 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY,  67 

Amherst  in  the  East,  to  Iowa  College  in  the  far  West, 
have  risen  upon  the  country  with  such  rapidity,*  and 
in  such  numbers,  that  specifications  would  be  tedious, 
till  we  have  already  more  than  a  hundred  and  twenty 
such  institutions, — one  or  more  in  every  State,  under 
the  instruction  of  six  hundred  teachers,  and  comprising 
an  aggregate  of  more  than  ten  thousand  students. 

Next  to  her  political  organization,  we  find  each 
State  looking  out  for  a  college,  as  if  it  was  the  hght 
of  her  eyes,  or  the  right  arm  of  her  strength.  The 
colleges,  like  the  churches  of  America,  are  for  the  most 
part  separate  from  the  organization  of  the  State,  and 
independent  of  its  direct  control.  But  they  are  for 
that  reason  none  the  less  an  essential  part  of  our  com- 
plex social,  political  and  religious  system.  Nay,  the 
people  love  their  colleges,  just  as  they  do  their 
churches,  all  the  more  because  they  are  the  ofispring, 
not  of  government  patronage,  but  of  their  own  free- 
will offerings  and  voluntary  sacrifices.  Hence,  the  in- 
habitants of  every  State  want  a  college,  which  they 
can  call  their  own,  as  every  body  politic  wants  its  own 
eyes  or  hands.  Nay,  every  section,  as  well  as  every 
sect,  wants  its  own  college,  that  it  may  not  only  be 
within  reach  of  their  sons,  but  within  sight  of  their  own 
eyes,  and  more  or  less  under  their  own  control.  This 
is  doubtless  carrying  the  matter  to  an  excess.  But 
even  this  has  its  good  results.  The  sight  of  a  college 
is  one,  and  that  no  despicable  means  of  educating  the 
surrounding  community.     At  least  it  shows  that  col- 

*  Upon  an  average,  one  for  every  year  of  the  present  century. 
4 


68  PRAYER    FOR   COLLEGES. 

leges  are  rooted  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  They 
have  been  assailed  by  demagogues  and  radical  reform- 
ers ;  and  there  have  been  times  when  it  seemed  as  if 
public  sentiment  would  yield  to  the  clamor.  But  true 
to  the  spirit  of  their  fathers  and  the  history  of  the 
country,  the  American  people  have  always,  ere  long,  re- 
turned to  their  first  love,  like  the  needle  to  the  pole- 
star  ;  and  never  was  the  system  of  collegiate  education 
more  strongly  grounded  in  pubUc  confidence  and  affec- 
tion than  at  this  .moment.  It  will  be  modified  to  suit 
the  change  of  circumstances ;  it  will  be  enlarged  to 
meet  the  growing  demands  of  the  age  ;  but  it  will  not 
be  abandoned, — it  cannot  be  abolished.  It  has  be- 
come a  fixed  fact.  It  is  the  settled  policy  of  the 
country.  The  college  is  an  essential  element  in  our 
present  social  organization,  even  as  it  has  been  in  all 
our  past  private  and  public  history. 

Kemove  the  colleges,  and  you  take  down  the  whole 
fabric  of  our  social,  political  and  religious  history. 
Extinguish  the  colleges,  and  you  put  out  the  eyes 
both  of  the  church  and  of  the  State.  Take  away  the 
colleges,  and  you  leave  education,  politics  and  religion 
without  comjoetent  guides  ;  the  school,  the  church  and 
the  State,  all  without  a  suitable  head. 

It  is  a  prime  characteristic  of  college  education 
that  it  has  to  do  with  the  leading  minds  of  the  com- 
munity and  the  country  ;  those  who,  by  their  talents 
and  attainments,  are  destined  to  exert  a  controlling  in- 
fluence. Here  is  the  hiding  of  its  power.  It  teaches 
the  teachers,  and  preaches  to  the  preachers,  and  gov- 
erns the  governors.     The  ten  thousand  young  men  in 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  69 

American  colleges  are  but  a  small  portion  of  the  youtli 
of  America,  but  they  will  soon  fill  the  larger  part  of 
the  posts  of  honor  and  power  in  the  church  and  in  the 
State  ;  and  by  their  personal  and  official  standing,  as 
well  as  by  the  tongue,  the  pen  and  the  press,  they 
will  exercise  a  commanding  influence  in  society  and  in 
public  affairs.  Martin  Luther's  teacher  at  Eisenach 
never  entered  the  school-room  without  taking  off  his 
hat,  and  bowing  to  his  scholars.  When  his  colleagues 
expressed  their  astonishment  at  his  extreme  conde- 
scension, he  replied  :  "  There  are  among  these  youth 
those  whom  God  will  one  day  raise  to  the  rank  of  burgo- 
masters, chancellors,  doctors  and  magistrates."  With 
far  more  reason  might  every  man  who  enters  or  looks 
upon  an  American  college,  bare  his  head,  and  bow  low 
before  the  assembled  guides  and  rulers  of  the  next 
generation. 

Again  (and  this  is  the  second  secret  of  its  power), 
the  college  takes  these  leading  minds  at  an  age  when 
they  may  yet  be  moulded  to  truth  and  goodness, 
though  they  will  soon  be  stiffened  and  hardened  past 
any  essential  alteration  ;  takes  them  in  the  last  period 
of  youth,  and  gives  them  the  last  touch  of  their  educa- 
tion, properly  so  called,  before  their  entrance  upon 
manhood  ;  receives  them  into  its  bosom  to  live  as  well 
as  study  under  the  care  of  professors,  who  stand  in  the 
double  relation  of  teachers  and  parents,  and  exerts 
upon  them  the  two-fold  influence  of  the  school  and 
the  family  circle.  Alexander  the  Great  said  :  "  Philip 
gave  me  life,  Aristotle  taught  me  how  to  live  luell." 
We  would  not  place  the  professor  before  the  parent,  or 


70  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

tlie  college  above  the  family,  which  is  nature's  own 
school,  and  in  which  the  parent  should  be  also  the 
teacher,  and  not  only  give  life,  but  ^  guide  to  a  life  of 
wisdom  and  virtue.  But  next  to  home  and  the  family 
circle,  the  college  does  most  to  shape  the  character  of 
those  who  will  so  soon  be  the  ruling  spirits  in  every 
department  of  social  and  public  life, 

A  third  fact  worthy  of  notice  in  regard  to  the  in- 
fluence of  colleges  is,  that  they  are  'permanent  founda- 
tions, and  so  give  permanence  to  the  institutions, 
whether  of  society,  of  government,  or  of  education, 
which  they  control  and  supply. 

The  ministry  cannot  perpetuate  itself.  The  magis- 
tracy cannot  educate  its  own  successors,  and  so  per- 
petuate itself.  The  inferior  departments  of  education 
cannot  train  their  own  men,  and  so  sustain  them- 
selves. But  let  the  college  be  well  supported,  and  it 
will  sustain,  supply  and  perpetuate  them  all.  It  is 
at  once  the  key-stone  of  the  educational  system,  and 
the  corner-stone  of  our  civil  and  religious  institutions. 
And  for  this  very  reason,  it  is  liable  to  be  depreciated 
by  unobserving  and  unreflecting  minds.  The  key- 
stone of  the  arch  is  too  high  up,  too  far  removed  from 
common  observation,  to  be  readily  seen  and  appre- 
ciated. To  a  careless  and  superficial  view,  the  arch 
might  seem  to  be  complete  without  it ;  but  take  it 
out,  or  never  put  it  in,  and  the  arch  will  not  stand. 
The  foundation  stones  of  the  temple  lie  too  deep  to  be 
seen  by  common  eyes,  but  the  architect  sees  them 
buried  deepen  the  ground,  and  no  wise  man  will  build 
a  house  without  solid  and  enduring  foundations  ;  no 


•  A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  71 

Christian  will  forget,  that  "except  the  Lord  build  the 
house,  they  labor  in  vain  that  build  it  ;  "  no  intelligent 
American  citizen,  who  prays  for  any  thing,  can  fail  to 
pray  that  the  foundations  may  be  so  laid  in  our  col- 
leges as  not  only  themselves  to  last  for  many  genera- 
tions, but  also  to  sustain  and  per23etuate  all  our  repub- 
lican and  Christian  institutions  to  the  end  of  time. 


CHAPTEE   V. 


Colleges  and  Popiilnr  Education — Parts  of  one  System— Must  rise  or  fall  together-- 
Proved  by  Facts — By  the  Nature  of  tlio  Case— Men  of  Collegiate  Discipline  the 
best  Teachers  in  any  School— Needed  to  train  Teachers  of  Common  Schools— To 
prepare  Text-books— To  direct  Popular  Education— Engineers— Light-houses  and 
Observatories— Early  Settlers  of  Massachusetts— Free  Colleges— Ilevlvals  iu  Com- 
mon Schools  taught  by  College  Students — The  Common  School  Question  to  be 
settled  in  the  Colleges— The  Jesuits— A  Teaching  Order— Austria— Poland — Amer- 
ica—Must be  met  with  their  own  'Weapons. 


The  intimate  and  essential  relation  which  subsists 
between  colleges  and  the  whole  scheme  of  popular 
education,  is  not  well  understood  ;  still  less  is  it  duly 
appreciated.  Ignorant  men  have  even  indulged  a  sus- 
picion that  there  is  a  necessary  antagonism  between 
the  education  of  the  few  in  colleges  and  the  education 
of  the  masses  in  common  schools  ;  and  designing  dem- 
agogues have  not  been  slow  to  foster  this  popular  pre- 
judice, and  take  advantage  of  it  for  their  own  selfish 
aggrandizement.  But  the  whole  history  of  education 
in  our  country  shows,  that  so  far  from  being  antago- 
nistic to  each  other,  colleges  and  common  schools  form 
different  and  essential  parts  of  one  and  the  same  great 
system,  which  must  live  or  die,  rise  or  fall,  flourish  or 
decay  together.  Facts  prove  that  where  colleges  are 
best  sustained,  there  common  schools  are   most  fos- 


^A   PREMIUM    ESSAY.  73 

tered  ;  that  the  States  and  sections  where  the  standard 
of  collegiate  education  is  most  elevated,  are  the  very 
States  and  sections  where  the  standard  of  teachers  and 
pupils  in  the  common  schools  is  the  highest ;  that  the 
success  and  usefulness  of  common  schools  is  exactly 
proportioned  to  the  popularity  and  prosperity  of  col- 
leges, and  that  whatever  is  done  for  or  against  the  one 
is  sure  to  react  with  equal  force  and  with  similar  results 
upon  the  other. 

In  the  nature  of  things,  the  facts  could  not  well  be 
otherwise.  Education,  as  well  as  every  other  living 
thing,  must  have  a  head,  as  well  as  hands  and  feet. 
Common  schools  and  academies,  select  schools  and 
high  schools,  and  all  the  lower  seminaries,  must  have 
not  only  scholars,  but  teachers,  and  committees,  and 
guardians,  and  examiners,  and  text-books,  and  appara- 
tus, and  all  suitable  means  and  appliances,  not  only  to 
keep  them  up  to  their  present  standard,  but  to  carry 
them  forward  in  a  constant  progress  towards  perfec- 
tion. And  the  men  who  are  to  do  all  this  must  be 
thoroughly  educated  men,  disciplined  in  all  their  facul- 
ties, and  masters  of  all  literature  and  science  ;  well 
acquainted  with  their  own  minds,  and  the  minds  of 
others,  as  well  as  with  the  structure  of  the  human  body 
and  the  constitution  of  the  universe. 

So  far  reaching  and  universal  are  the  relations  of 
things,  that  no  one  thing  can  be  fully  known  without 
a  knowledge  of  a  multitude  of  other  things.  Hence, 
in  order  to  teach  any  thing  to  the  best  advantage,  the 
teacher  needs  to  know  not  merely  that  particular  thing, 
but  every  thing  else  to  which  it  stands  related.  The 
4 


74  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

best  method  of  teaching  a  child  his  alphabet  is  a  ques^ 
tion  involving  profound  principles  of  philology,  as  well 
as  mental  f»hilosophy.  None  but  a  profound  scholar 
and  philosopher  is  quahfied  to  make  a  spelling-book. 
Webster  studied  and  improved  on  his  spelling-book, 
after  he  had  finished  the  best  dictionary  of  the  English 
language,  and  had  placed  himself  in  the  very  foremost 
rank  of  English  philologists.  A  good  reading-book 
can  be  prepared  only  by  a  man  of  correct  taste,  wide 
acquaintance  with  literature  and  finished  classical 
education.  No  man  can  make  a  good  English  gram- 
mar who  knows  only  the  English  language.  The  best 
English  grammars,  not  to  say  all  the  improvements  in 
the  method  of  teaching  English  grammar,  have  been 
made  by  profound  classical  scholars,  availing  them- 
selves, too,  of  the  labors  of  still  more  learned  men,  still 
more  profoundly  versed  in  comparative  philology. 
The  best  text-books  in  the  natural  sciences  for  the 
use  of  schools  and  academies  have  been  prepared  by 
the  j^rofessors  and  teachers  of  natural  science  in  col- 
lege ;  and  well  they  may  have  been,  for  they  require 
an  extensive  acquaintance  with  both  natural  and  men- 
tal philosophy. 

The  same  principles  apply  to  teachers,  not  less  than 
authors  of  text-books.  Other  things  being  equal,  the 
more  a  man  knows  of  every  thing,  the  better  he  can 
teach  any  thing  ;  and  the  more  thorough  and  complete 
the  discipline  of  his  own  mind,  the  better  he  can  im- 
part even  a  little  discipline  to  the  mind  of  another. 
A  well  educated  man  will  give  the  best  education  to  a 
child.     A  gentleman  of  high  classical  discipline  and 


X  PREMIUM    ESSAY.  75 

attainments  is  the  best  teacher  of  young  ladies  in  the 
solid  branches.  And  a  genuine  scholar,  philosoj)her, 
sage,  who  has  not  lost  his  common  sense  and  his  sym- 
pathy with  the  young, — old  in  wisdom,  but  young 
in  feeling  and  affection, — would  be  the  best  teacher 
of  any,  even  the  simplest  and  humblest  branch  of 
learning. 

We  do  not,  indeed,  expect  all  the  teachers  in  our 
common  schools  to  be  men  of  college  education,  or 
even  women  of  equivalent  attainments  ;  but  we  do  af- 
firm that,  other  things  being  equal,  the  more  they 
know  the  better  they  will  teach  in  any  sphere  ;  and 
that  in  proportion  as  the  teachers  in  our  common 
schools  advance  towards  the  standard  of  a  full  colle- 
giate education,  common  schools  themselves  will  ad- 
vance in  substantial  excellence  and  usefulness.  And 
they  who  are  to  sit  in  judgment  on  both  teachers  and 
text-books,  they  who  are  to  give*  shape  and  direction 
to  the  public  schools  of  a  town,  of  a  State,  of  a  nation, 
mtist  be  men  of  thoroughly  disciplined  minds  and  ex- 
tensive attainments,  who  can  look  out  over  the  whole 
field  of  knowledge,  and  see  every  thing,  not  only  in  its 
immediate  bearings,  but  in  its  ultimate  tendencies  and 
results. 

The  friends  of  common  schools  jealous  of  colleges  ! 
It  is  most  irrational  and  absurd  ;  nay,  it  is  suicidal. 
As  well  might  the  travelling  pubHc  be  jealous  of  scien- 
tific schools  for  the  education  of  engineers  !  The  sys- 
tem oi  public  schools  must  be  under  the  control  of 
well  trained,  skilful  and  faithful  engineers,  or  the  road 
will  be  wrongly  laid  and  badly  constructed,  and  the 


76  PRAYER   FOR   COLLEGES. 

train  will  be  perpetually  running  off  the  track.  As 
well  might  common  sailors  look  with  a  suspicious  eye 
upon  the  astronomical  observatories  that  adorn  our 
cities,  or  the  light-houses  that  line  our  coasts.  Our 
gallant  public  scliool  marine  must  have  its  observa- 
tories and  its  light-houses,  or,  bravely  as  it  has  sailed 
out  of  port,  it  will  ere  long  encounter  head-winds  and 
unforeseen  currents,  and  be  dashed,  an  utter  wreck,  on 
an  unknown  shore  ;  or,  what  is  scarcely  less  deplora- 
ble, drift  helmless  and  helpless,  without  compass, 
chart  or  nautical  almanac,  at  the  mercy  of  the  winds 
and  waves. 

The  entire  system  of  education,  as  it  has  come 
down  to  us  from  a  wise  and  godly  ancestry,  is  one  or- 
ganic body,  having  a  head  as  well  as  a  trunk  and 
lower  members,  animated  from  head  to  foot  with  the 
same  life,  and  pervaded  from  the  heart  to  the  extrem- 
ities by  the  same  vital  energies.  The  first  Hterary  in- 
stitution which  the  early  settlers  of  Massachusetts 
founded  higher  than  common  schools  was  a  college. 
Eleven  years  after,  it  was  ordered  by  the  General 
Com-t,  that  "  when  any  town  shall  increase  to  the 
number  of  one  hundred  families,  they  shall  set  up  a 
grammar  school,  the  master  thereof  being  able  to  in- 
struct youth  so  far  as  they  may  be  fitted  for  the  U7ii- 
versity."  Thus,  within  thirty  years  after  the  landing 
of  the  Pilgrims,  they  had  laid  the  foundations  of  our 
entire  educational  system,  with  its  three  grades  of 
schools,  essentially  as  they  now  exist.  And  they  nur- 
tured and  cherished  the  whole  system  as  a  whole, 
watching  and  caring  for  it  in  eveiy  part ;  and  their 


A   PREMIUM    ESSAY.  V7 

sons,  if  they  would  have  it  live  and  thrive,  must  fos- 
ter it  with  the  same  impartial  and  comprehensive 
wisdom. 

The  State  should  extend  not  its  direct  govern- 
mental control,  but  its  sustaining  and  fostering  hand, 
alike  to  the  higher  and  the  lower  seminaries,  and  give  us 
not  only  free  common  and  high  schools,  but  free  acad- 
emies and  colleges,  where  rich  and  poor  shall  meet  to- 
gether at  "the  upper  and  the  nether  springs,"  and 
mutually  know  and  educate  each  other,  with  no  aris- 
tocracy but  that  of  talent  and  learning ;  no  distinc- 
tions of  rank  and  standing,  but  those  of  wisdom  and 
goodness. 

The  Church,  through  her  ministers  and  members, 
should  lend  a  helping  hand  at  every  stage  of  the  pro- 
cess, and  not  only  extend  to  it  the  patronage  of  her 
sons  and  daughters  (none  too  ricJi  to  patronise  the 
common  scliools,  and  none  too  poor  to  be  represented 
in  the  colleges),  but  bestow  on  it  also  the  richer  blessing 
of  her  prayers,  and  infuse  into  it  the  purifying  and 
life-giving  influence  of  her  principles  and  spirit.  The 
providence  of  God  has  given  her  in  a  great  measure 
the  control  of  the  colleges  of  our  land,  and  thus  (if 
she  did  but  know  it)  the  indirect  control  of  academies 
and  common  schools.  The  religious  influence  which 
college  students  exert,  as  teachers  of  common  schools, 
during  their  college  course,  is  beyond  calculation. 
The  greater  part  of  those  who  teach  in  this  way  are 
young  men  of  devoted  piety,  who  avail  themselves  of 
this  as  the  only  practicable  method  of  realizing  the 
fondest  desire  of  their  hearts,  which  is  to  be  educated 


78  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

for  the  Christian  ministry.  How  many  precious  revi- 
vals of  religion  have  originated  in  the  faithful  lahors 
of  such  teachers  in  common  schools,  and  have  spread, 
not  only  through  the  school,  but  tlirough  the  whole 
community  !  How  many  more  would  thus  originate 
if  all  who  go  forth  from  our  colleges,  from  year  to 
year,  to  spend  a  term  in  the  instruction  of  common 
schools,  were  imbued  with  the  full  spirit  of  revivals, 
of  the  gospel  ministry,  and  of  Christian  missions  ! 
And  if  all  our  educated  men  who  have  any  thing  to 
do  with  common  schools,  were  men  who  reverence  the 
Bible,  and  love  and  obey  its  sacred  truths,  how  much 
could  they  do,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  leaven  with  the 
same  holy  sentiments  the  entire  rising  generation  !  It 
is  in  the  colleges,  after  all,  that  the  common  school 
question,  with  all  its  momentous  bearings  on  the 
church  and  the  State,  is  to  be  mainly  decided.  Let 
then  those  who  love  the  church  and  the  State, — let 
those  who  seek  the  good  of  theorising  generation,  pray 
that  all  the  young  men  in  our  colleges  may  be  imbued 
with  the  truth  of  God  and  the  love  of  Christ,  and 
what  the  church  cannot  do  directly  (owing  to  the  popu- 
lar jealousy  of  sectarianism,  and  of  the  union  of  church 
and  State),  these  young  men  will  do  for  her  ;  they  will 
leaven  every  department  of  public  and  private  educa- 
tion, not  with  the  creeds  and  formularies  of  a  sect, 
but  with  the  vital  spirit  of  a  common  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity. 

It  was  in  just  this  way  that  those  world-renowned 
educators  and  conquerors,  the  Jesuits,  recovered  the 
larger  part  of  Europe  to  the  papacy,  wh€n  it  seemed  lost 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  79 

for  ever.  They  seized  upon  the  higher  departments 
of  education,  both  private  and  public,  and  from  these 
fountains,  whether  in  universities  or  courts,  or  the 
famihes  of  the  great,  their  influence  flowed  naturally 
and  necessarily  down  through  the  inferior  schools  and 
the  lower  classes,  till  at  length  it  pervaded  all  the 
channels  of  thought  and  feeling  and  action.  At  some 
periods  of  their  history,  the  Jesuits  have  had  under 
their  control  nearly  six  hundred  colleges,  scattered 
from  China  to  the  British  Isles,  through  almost  every 
nation  on  the  globe.  This  most  energetic  and  effect- 
ive,— this  almost  omnipresent  and  all-powerful  order, 
has  ever  been,  not  so  much  a  preaching  or  a  priestly, 
as  a  teaclimg  order  ;  an  order  of  professors  and  govern- 
ors, and  scholars  and  teachers,  who  have  made  it  their 
business  to  educate  the  leading  minds,  and  through 
them  to  guide  and  govern  communities  and  na- 
tions. Austria  herself  was  at  one  time  essentiall}'' 
Protestant.  "Not  one  in  thirty  of  the  population 
adhered  to  papacy,  and,  for  nearly  a  generation, 
scarcely  a  man  was  found  to  enter  the  Komish  priest- 
hood." But  the  Jesuits  went  forth ;  they  marched 
directly  to  the  fountains  ;  "  they  obtained  a  controlling 
influence  in  the  universities,  and  in  a  single  generation 
Austria  was  lost  to  the  Keformation,  and  regained  to 
the  papal  hierarchy."  * 

Very  similar  is  the  history  of  the  Eeformation  in 
Poland.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Polish  Diet 
was  a  Protestant  body,  and  exerted  its  influence  for 

*  Ranke's  History  of  the  Popes,  as  cited  by  Prof,  Sturtevaut  be- 
fore the  West.  Coll.  Soc. 


80  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

the  protection  of  persecuted  Protestants  m  other  coun- 
tries. Luther's  works  were  printed  at  Qracow ;  and 
in  other  cities  of  Poland,  presses  in  great  numbers 
were  employed  in  printing  Protestant  books,  which 
could  not  be  printed  elsewhere.  But  in  an  evil  hour, 
a  Protestant  king,  chosen  by  a  Protestant  Diet,  ap- 
pointed a  Jesuit  minister  of  public  instruction.  He 
filled  the  professors'  chairs  in  the  universities  and 
higher  seminaries  with  the  members  of  his  own  order. 
The  scale  was  soon  turned,  and  the  doctrines  of  the 
Reformation  never  again  recovered  the  ascendency. 

"  Fas  est  et  ah  hosfe  doceri."  We  may  well  learn 
a  lesson  of  worldly  wisdom  from  these  consummate 
masters.  And  the  lesson  which  their  history  teaches 
is  this  :  educate  the  leading  minds,  and  the  rest  will 
be  sure  to  follow  in  their  train  ;  get  possession  of  the 
colleges,  and  you  can  control  popular  education  and 
public  opinion  as  you  will.  It  is  these  same  Jesuits, 
armed  with  the  same  pohcy,  with  whom  the  Protestant 
Christians  of  America  have  to  contend  for  the  mastery 
of  the  New  World.  And  the  only  way  to  conquer 
them  is  to  meet  them  with  their  own  weapons,  to  an- 
ticipate and  surpass  them  in  their  own  mode  of  war- 
fare ;  to  seize  upon  the  prominent  points,  and  establish 
the  higher  seminaries,  and  educate  the  controlling 
spirits  of  the  community.  Allow  them  to  secure  the 
colleges,  male  and  female,  and  form  the  leading  minds 
of  a  single  generation,  and  they  will  not  only  appro- 
priate the  public-school  fund  to  the  support  of  their 
own  schools,  and  gather  into  them  the  children  of  Pro- 
testant families,  but  they  will  gradually  insinuate  their 


A   PEEMIUM   ESSAY.  81 

teachers  into  Protestant  schools  and  Protestant  fami- 
lies ;  and  then  the  victory  will  be  theirs.  And  when 
the  Jesuits  conquer  and  govern  America,  it  will  be 
America  no  longer.  "With  the  truth,  she  will  have 
lost  her  liberty  and  her  glory  for  ever. 


4^ 


CHAPTER    VI. 


Colleges  and  the  Literature  of  the  Country,  or  the  Power  o{  the  Pen  and  the  Press— 
Contrihutions  of  the  Officers  to  Literature  and  Science— The  Edwardses,  Davies, 
Dwight,  «&c.— Libraries  and  Lecture-rooms  the  homes  of  Men  of  Letters— The 
Minds  of  Students  fruitful  in  new  and  grand  Ideas— Bacon,  Milton— Theological 
Literature  of  the  Puritans  the  Fruit  of  Classical  Scholarship— Bates,  Howe,  Owen, 
Cudworth— English  Science  and  Philosophy— Newton — British  Poets  and  Essay- 
ists—French Literature  and  Port  Eoyal— The  Press  divides  with  the  Pulpit  the 
Power  over  the  Public  Mind — Educated  Men  alone  can  give  this  Power  a  right  Di- 
rection-Oxford Tracts— Infidel  Literature— Temperance,  Liberty  and  Humanity. 


The  obligations  of  literature  and  science  to  our  col- 
leges are  too  obvious  to  require  extended  remark. 
Literature  and  science  are,  so  to  speak,  at  once  the 
labor  and  the  wages,  the  seed  and  the  harvest,  the 
capital  stock  and  the  dividend,  of  these  institutions. 

The  officers,  while  they  teach  others,  must  study 
themselves.  And  not  content  with  the  attainments 
and  discoveries  of  their  predecessors,  they  are  ambitious 
to  enlarge  the  boundaries  of  human  knowledge.  Not 
confining  their  view  to  their  immediate  pupils,  they 
labor  for  the  difiusion  of  learning  through  the  commu- 
nity. The  libraries  and  the  lecture-rooms  of  the  profes- 
sors are  so  many  centres  of  attraction,which  draw  in  men 
of  leisure  and  taste,  who  make  the  college  their  home, 
and  literature  their  profession.  To  specify  the  contri- 
butions that  have  been  made  by  the  presidents  and 
fellows,  the  professors  and  resident  graduates  in  the 
colleges  and  universities  of  Europe,  or  even  of  America, 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  83 

during  the  present  and  the  previous  century,  were  to 
enumerate  no  small  portion  of  the  books  that  have 
appeared,  especially  in  the  more  profound  and  useful 
branches — were  to  write  in  no  small  measure  the  his- 
tory of  these  branches  during  this  period. 

The  students,  too,  do  not  all  converse  with  learned 
men,  and  breathe  the  atmosphere  of  libraries  and 
books  four  years,  to  no  purpose.  The  natural  excita- 
bility of  youth,  the  fermentation  produced  by  bringing 
together  so  many  youthful  minds,  the  high  excitement 
resulting  in  these  minds  from  the  rapid  influx  of  new 
and  grand  ideas, — all  conspire  to  render  the  soil  and 
the  very  atmosphere  of  a  college  quickening  and  prolific, 
far  beyond  the  knowledge  or  the  conception  of  those 
who  are  not  acquainted  with  the  facts.  Not  a  few  of 
those  great  works  which  have  revolutionized  the  opin- 
ions, and  changed  the  history  of  mankind,  have  been 
projected  by  university  students.  During  the  four 
years  which  Lord  Bacon  spent  in  the  university  of 
Cambridge,  he  had  already  formed  a  distinct  idea  of 
the  defects  of  the  Aristotehan  system  of  philosophy, 
and  conceived  the  outline  of  that  gigantic  plan  for 
"the  Instauration  of  the  Sciences,"  which  has  rendered 
his  name  immortal,  and  converted  philosophy  from  a 
barren  wilderness  into  a  fruitful  field.  Such  novel  and 
noble  ideas,  Mr.  Hallam  observes,  "  are  most  conge- 
nial to  the  sanguine  spirit  of  youth,  and  to  its  igno- 
rance of  the  extent  of  labor  it  undertakes  ;"  and  the 
university  furnishes  just  the  stimulus  and  just  the  nu- 
triment that  are  needed  to  excite  and  sustain  the 
youthful  energies  in  such  undertakings. 


84  PIIAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

Milton  remained  in  the  university  for  only  a  part 
of  the  regular  course,  and  left  it  without  much  partial- 
ity for  its  methods  of  study  and  discipline.  Yet  he 
forged  in  the  university  the  very  arms  which  he  turned 
against  it  ;  and  there,  in  a  thoroughly  disciphned 
mind,  and  highly  cultivated  taste,  as  well  as  abundant 
classical  learning,  he  laid  the  foundation  of  his  great 
works.  The  "  Paradise  Lost "  is  hung  all  over  with 
the  trophies  of  classical  scholarship,  and  affords  a 
splendid  illustration  of  the  use  which  original  genius 
and  puritanical  piety  can  make  of  a  complete  academic 
education.  The  theological  literature  of  the  Puritans 
generally,  and,  indeed,  all  the  theological  literature  of 
that  age, — the  age  of  Hooker  and  Barrow  and  Taylor, 
of  Bates  and  Howe,  and  Owen  and  Cudworth, — was 
the  product  of  minds  thoroughly  trained  in  the  uni- 
versities, and  furnishes  a  bright  example  of  the  value 
of  classical  scholarshij),  sanctified  and  consecrated  to 
the  service  of  rehgion.  The  theological  writers  of  our 
own  country,  who  have  so  honored  the  country  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  have  been  men  who  learned  in  col- 
lege to  unite  the  study  of  human  learning  with  the 
wisdom  which  cometh  down  from  above.  Chauncey, 
Mather,  the  two  Edwardses,  Dwight,  Davies,  Wither- 
spoon,  Aj)pleton,  and  others,  whom  we  might  name, 
were  not  only  alumni,  but  presidents  of  American  col- 
leges. 

The  fathers  of  English  science  and  philosophy, 
from  Bacon  and  Newton  and  Locke,  to  Stewart  and 
Whewell  and  Buckland  ;  from  the  Novum  Organum 
and  the  Principia  to  the  Bridgewater  Treatises,  and 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  85 

the  History  of  the  Inductive  Sciences, — have  spent 
years,  and  many  of  them  lived  and  died,  at  the  univer- 
sities. "  Newton  was  nurtured  in  academic  discipline, 
a  fellow  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  a  professor 
of  mathematics.  He  passed  fifteen  years  of  his  life  in 
the  cloisters  of  a  college,  and  solved  the  problem  of 
the  universe  from  a  turret  over  Trinity  gateway."  * 

The  British  essayists,  and  even  the  novelists,  for 
the  most  part,  and  still  more  generally  the  poets  of 
Great  Britain,  wandered  in  their  youth  on  the  banks 
of  the  Cam  and  the  Isis,  and  ever  after  drew  water 
from  those  classic  streams.  Not  to  indulge  in  further 
specifications,  the  greater  part,  and  by  far  the  better 
part,  of  English,  including  American  literature,  has 
been  the  fruit  directly  or  indirectly  of  college  labors 
and  studies,  of  tastes,  habits  and  acquirements  formed 
in  the  university.  Some  of  the  finest  verses  of  Racine 
were  meditated  while,  a  boy  at  school,  he  wandered  in 
the  woods  of  Port  Royal.  The  Letters  and  the 
Thoughts  of  Pascal,  pregnant  with  human  genius  and 
divine  wisdom,  were  composed  in  the  same  sacred 
retreat. 

Now  and  then  a  Shakspeare  has  arisen  with  such 
transcendent  genius  as  to  supersede  the  necessity  of 
the  ordinary  training  ;  who  has  acquired  the  needful 
discipline  and  resources  by  observation  and  reflection, 
and  sent  out  his  plays  to  the  world  boasting  that  he 
"  never  blotted  a  line."  But  his  best  friend,  and  most 
ardent   admirer,    has   been   constrained    to   respond : 

*  Mr.  Everett  on  behalf  of  the  Colleges  of  Massachusetts. 


Sis  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

"  Would  God,  he  had  blotted  a  thousand."  Some  of 
the  most  impure  and  lawless  effusions  of  the  poetic 
and  romantic  muse  have  proceeded  from  men  who,  like 
Byron  and  Shelley,  could  not  brook  the  restraints  of 
college  law,  or  had  no  relish  for  the  pursuits  of  college 
life,  and  were  even  expelled  from  the  university,  A 
still  lower  and  baser  class  of  books,  the  yellow-covered 
literature  of  the  day,  savors  rather  of  the  bar-room, 
the  brothel  and  the  prison,  than  the  university.  The 
schools  arc  all  guiltless  of  their  sins.  Their  authors 
never  saw  the  inside  of  a  college. 

The  question,  who  shall  furnish  the  country  with 
reading,  with  books  and  pamphlets,  and  magazines, 
with  quarterlies  and  monthlies,  and  weeklies  and  dai- 
lies, is  a  question  of  incalculable  moment.  It  is  al- 
most equivalent  to  the  question,  what  shall  be  the 
prevailing  thoughts  and  sentiments,  character  and 
spirit  of  the  people.  In  an  age  and  country  like  ours, 
where  every  body  reads,  able  and  eloquent  writers  form 
almost  the  atmosphere  in  which  the  whole  community 
live  and  move  and  have  their  being.  The  pulpit  was 
once  the  throne  whence  the  peoj)le  derived,  ex  cathe- 
dra, their  doctrines  and  duties.  The  press  is  now  the 
oracle  of  multitudes  who  seldom  or  never  hear  the 
preacher's  voice,  and  it  divides  the  sovereignty  with 
the  pulpit  over  the  minds  of  church-goers  and  Chris- 
tians. Hoe's  rotary  press  will  now  throw  off  an 
amount  of  work  in  an  hour  which  a  week  could  not  ac- 
complish with  the  common  hand-press.  While  the  me- 
chanical efiiciency  of  the  press  has  thus  been  magnified 
a  hundredfold,  its  moral  power  has  been  increasing  in  the 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  87 

same  astonishing  ratio.  Now  the  question,  who  shall 
wield  this  mighty  moral  engine  (a  question  which  is  to 
decide  in  a  great  measure  the  character  and  destiny 
of  the  present  and  coming  generations  for  time  and 
eternity),  is  itself  to  be  decided,  to  a  great  extent,  in 
the  colleges. 

Say  what  you  will  of  a  growing  distance  between 
colleges  and  the  public  mind  ;  admit  all  that  can  be 
said  of  the  increasing  influence  of  a  new  class  of  popu- 
lar writers,  who  have  never  seen  the  inside  of  a  college, 
and  who  have  got  their  education  in  the  streets  and 
market-places  of  the  city,  if  not  even  in  worse  places 
than  these  ;  concede  all  on  this  point  that  the  truth  will 
justify,  still  the  educated  men  of  the  country,  if  suffi- 
ciently numerous,  and  able,  and  well  educated,  can, 
and  will,  control  the  literature  of  the  country.  At  all 
events,  if  they  cannot  control  it,  and,  with  the  blessing 
of  Grod,  give  it  a  right  direction,  no  human  power  can. 
We  are  shut  up  to  this  resource.  This  is  our  only 
hope.  If  we  would  preserve  or  cherish  a  literature 
truthful,  earnest  and  pure,  that  shall  bless  the  present 
generation,  and  honor  the  country  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world  in  future  ages,  we  must  make  pure,  and  keep 
pure,  the  colleges,  as  the  only  fountains  from  which 
such  a  literature  can  flow. 

Let  the  colleges  of  our  land  be  given  up  to  the  sole 
inspiration  of  pagan  muses,  and  a  corrupting  and  de- 
grading heathen  literature  will  dishonor  and  defile  the 
land.  Let  Jesuitism  and  Popery,  open  or  disguised, 
establish  their  reign  in  the  universities,  and  the  Oxford 
Tracts,  with   their   effete   superstitions   and   defunct 


88  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

ceremonials  and  Jesuitical  ethics,  will  overspread  the 
country,  like  the  flies  and  the  locusts  of  Egypt. 
Again,  let  skepticism,  whether  in  the  guise  of  soaring 
transcendentalism,  or  in  the  form  of  grovelling  infi- 
delity, seat  itself  in  the  professors'  chairs,  and  a  dark- 
ness, that  can  be  felt,  damp,  chilly  and  ponetrating, 
will  settle  down  upon  us,  or  a  plague,  kathsome  as 
that  of  the  frogs,  will  come  into  our  hou^ea  and  to  our 
very  hearths.  If  the  moral  atmosphere  of  the  college 
be  pure,  and  the  standard  of  piety  high, — if  truth  and 
temperance,  justice,  liberty  and  humanity  be  the 
reigning  ideas  of  the  institution,  the  young  men  who 
go  forth  from  it  will,  for  the  most  part,  range  them- 
selves on  the  right  side  in  the  great  conflict  of  princi- 
ples that  is  now  going  on,  and  their  pens  will  fight 
battles  and  win  triumphs  more  glorious  than  were  ever 
won  by  the  sword.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  error  and 
intemperance,  injustice  and  oppression,  be  suffered  to 
reign  and  riot  in  these  halls  of  learning,  the  same 
spirits  of  darkness  will  fly  abroad  over  the  community, 
armed  with  the  pen  and  the  press,  making  havoc  with 
the  bodies  and  the  souls  of  men,  and  revelhng  in  the 
sighs  and  tears,  and  blood  of  ojjpressed  humanity. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Colleges  in  their  relation  to  the  Business  of  Life  and  the  Affairs  of  State— The  intrin- 
sic Value  of  Educated  Men— Knowledge  is  Power — Intelligence  and  Virtue  the 
Wealth  of  the  Community— Speculative  and  Scientific  Men  the  Creators  of  Mate- 
rial "Wealth — Authors  of  Useful  Inventions  and  Discoveries — Chemistry  and  Agri- 
culture and  Manufactures— Science  and  the  Steamship,  the  Eail-car  and  the  Mag- 
netic Telegraph — Bacon,  Newton  and  Locke — Watt  and  Fulton — Professor  Morse 
— No  Progress  without  Science— Science  saves  Time  and  misdirected  Effort— Most 
useful  in  an  enterprising  Age— Sociology  tho  study  of  our  Age— Our  Country's 
Mission  to  perfect  and  apply  the  Science — English  Statesmen  trained  in  the  Uni- 
versities—The Founders  of  our  Republic,  Hamilton,  Madison,  Jay,  Jefferson- 
Early  Magistrates  of  New  England  Graduates  of  Harvard,  Yale,  Nassau  Hall  and 
Columbia  Colleges— University  Students  Eevolutionary  in  Despotisms,  and  Con- 
servative in  England  and  America — Influence  of  Colleges  at  once  Conservative 
and  Progressive,  Classical  and  Christian— Friendly  to  the  Union,  but  hostile  to 
perpetual  Annexation,  Manifest  Destiny,  &e.— These  Popular  Heresies  can  be  cor- 
rected only  by  the  Blessing  of  God  on  our  Colleges. 


What  have  colleges  to  do  with  politics  and  the  busi- 
ness of  life  ?  What  possible  connection  is  there  be- 
tween the  brown  studies  of  the  cloister  and  the  noise 
and  stir  of  the  work-a-day  world,  which  is  the  abode 
of  ordinary  men,  women  and  children  ?  Is  there  not 
a  natural  and  necessary  antagonism  between  the  spec- 
ulative theories  of  the  scholar  and  the  practical  de- 
mands of  business,  which  has  passed  into  a  proverb, 
and  rendered  the  very  names  of  scholar  and  scholastic 
a  by-word — a  synonym  with  the  grossest  ignorance 
and  incapacity  in  the  common  affairs  of  every-day  life  ? 
In  one  word,  of  what  use  are  colleges  in  an  age  and 
country  so  practical  and  enterprising  as  ours  ? 


^0 


PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 


We  might  ask,  if  literature  and  science  have  no 
intrinsic  vakie, — if  wisdom  and  goodness  are  not  of 
themselves  useful, — if  the  very  presence  of  educated 
men  is  not  a  blessing  to  the  community, — if  they  do 
not,  by  their  example  and  influence,  promote  intelli- 
gence, good  order  and  good  morals, — and  if  these  are 
not  the  true  wealth  and  power  of  any  people  ?  If 
knowledge  is  power,  and  virtue  is  wealth,  then  are 
not  educated  Christian  men  among  the  most  produc- 
tive classes  in  society  ? 

But  we  will  not  insist  on  this  view.  We  choose 
rather  to  meet  the  question,  just  as  it  is  asked,  with 
reference  to  mere  material  wealth,  and  the  lowest 
practical  utility.  Is  there,  then,  a  natural  antago- 
nism between  theory  and  practice  ?  between  science 
and  art  ?  between  study  and  action  ?  between  the 
past  and  the  future  ?  Is  not  theory  rather  the  mother 
of  practical  wisdom,  and  science  the  fountain  of  im- 
provement in  the  arts  ?  and  study  the  very  basis  of 
the  most  effective  action  ?  and  the  past  the  nursery  and 
school, — naj^,  the  parent  and  teacher  of  the  future  ? 
The  men  who,  in  every  age,  have  been  on  the  largest 
scale  practical  and  useful  men, — those  who  have  been 
the  creators  of  material  wealth  and  prosperity, — have 
been  men  of  science  and  speculation.  They  may  not 
have  been  understood  or  appreciated  in  their  own  day, 
but  after  ages  have  looked  back  to  them  as  the  men 
whose  discoveries  and  inventions  have  revolutionized 
business,  politics,  society,  and  the  whole  history  of 
mankind.  Alchemy,  in  the  middle  ages,  gave  birth  to 
chemistry  ;  and  chemistry  is  now  the  teacher  of  agri- 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  91 

culture  and  manufactures.  Science  was  born  in  the 
cloister,  and  nursed  in  the  laboratory  and  cabinet  ; 
but  now  she  drives  the  steamship  and  rail-car,  and 
carries  the  news  from  one  extremity  of  the  land  to  the 
other  with  the  speed  of  the  lightning,  Now  she  is 
the  counsellor  of  kings  and  commanders,  the  prime 
minister  of  princely  merchants,  the  guiding  agent, 
and  yet  the  obedient  servant  of  manufacturers ;  the 
fairy-like  favorite  of  those  most  independent  of  all 
lords, — the  lords  of  the  soil ;  and  the  presiding  genius 
in  every  department  of  business. 

Who  have  ever  contributed  more  largely  to  the 
means  and  materials  of  human  prosperity  and  progress 
than  those  sons  of  the  English  universities,  Bacon, 
Newton,  and  Locke  ?  Watt  and  Fulton,  though  not 
themselves  men  of  academical  education,  associated 
familiarly  with  such  men,  and  derived  from  them  the 
principles  of  science  which  they  applied  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  steam-engine  and  steam  navigation. 
Professor  Morse,  the  inventor  of  the  electric  telegraph, 
was  not  only  a  college  graduate  and  professor,  but 
made  his  great  experiments  within  the  walls  of  a  uni- 
versity. The  farmer,  who  would  know  how  to  multi- 
ply his  crops  without  increasing  the  number  of  his 
acres,  has  only  to  inquire  of  Professor  Liebig  in  his 
laboratory  ;  and  the  navigator,  who  would  double  the 
number  of  his  voyages  in  a  given  time,  and  so  double 
his  profits,  without  adding  to  his  expenses,  need  but 
consult  Lieutenant  Maury  in  his  study. 

Two  centuries  ago,  there  might  have  been  some 
l)lausibility  in  the  charge,  that  science  was  unpractical 


92  TRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

and  unfruitful ;  tliougb  even  then  she  was  the  author 
of  all  the  progress  that  was  made  ;  even  then  she  was 
slowly  elaborating  those  elements  and  processes  which 
are  now  most  fruitful  in  practical  results.  But  in  this 
nineteenth  century,  when  every  department  of  life  is 
teeming  with  the  fruits  of  science  in  its  infinitely 
various  applications,  such  a  complaint  is  preposterous. 
It  is,  however,  no  uncommon  thing  for  men  to  forget 
their  benefactors  in  the  very  enjoyment  of  their  bene- 
factions ;  to  feel  quite  independent  of  the  fountain, 
because  of  the-  very  richness  and  copious&ess  of  the 
draughts  which  they  drink  from  the  stream.  Thus 
infidelity  "  abstracts  the  coin  of  heaven," — the  truths 
of  revelation,  "  and  stamps  them  with  the  image  and 
superscription  of  reason."  And  thus,  too,  the  exces- 
sive utilitarianism  of  our  age  denies  her  obligations  to 
literary  and  scientific  institutions,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  she  is  rioting  in  the  wealth  and  luxury  which 
literature  ai^d  science  are  pouring  into  her  lap.  Let 
the  fountain  be  dried  up,  aijd  they  would  soon,  though 
too  late,  discover  and  deplore  their  error.  Cut  off 
business  from  science,  and  there  is  an  end  of  progress  ; 
and  where  progress  ends,  a  retrograde  movement  almost 
certainly  begins.  Separate  the  future  from  the  past, 
and  it  settles  do^yn  into  a  tame,  dull,  stationary  pre- 
sent ;  nay,  it  soon  sinks  back  into  a  dark,  cold,  dead 
and  dismal  past,  in  which  there  is  no  life,  and  from 
■which  there  is  no  resurrection.  The  men  who  are 
most  thoroughly  masters  of  all  past  attainments,  are, 
of  all  men,  the  best  prepared,  and  the  most  likely, 
"with  equal  original  genius,  to  strike  out  new  and  use- 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  93 

ful  inventions.  And  the  men  of  the  greatest  original 
and  inventive  genius,  of  all  men,  most  need  the  wisdom 
of  past  ages,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  present,  to  guard 
them  against  a  useless  waste  of  their  powers.  What 
an  untold  amount  of  time  and  money,  of  ingenuity 
and  effort,  have  such  men  wasted  on  perpetual  motion, 
"  squaring  the  circle,"  and  the  like  insoluble  problems, 
the  impossibility  of  which  every  college  student  knows 
to  a  demonstration  ?  Who  can  calculate  the  contri- 
butions which  they  would  have  added  to  the  sum  total 
of  the  means  of  human  progress  and  happiness,  if  their 
genius  had  been  guided  by  sound  science  ;  for  such 
men,  of  all  others,  are  most  capable  of  turning  all 
knowledge  to  a  good  practical  account.  An  inventive, 
enterprising,  progressive  age  and  nation,  of  all  others, 
most  requires,  and  can  profit  most,  by  the  knowledge 
of  antiquity,  and  the  discipline  of  classical  studies.  A 
utilitarian  age  and  nation  should  be  the  last  to  discard 
or  undervalue  colleges,  since  they  furnish  at  once  tlie 
antidote  to  excessive  utilitarianism,  and  the  guide  to 
true  utility.  They  are  at  once  the  repositories  of  an- 
cient wisdom,  and  the  laboratories  of  modern  science. 
The  votaries  of  either  must  go  on  pilgrimage  to  the 
same  shrine  ;  and  if  in  the  pursuit  of  the  one,  they 
become  enamored  of  the  other  also,  and  go  away  with 
a  more  impartial  and  liberal  culture  than  they  sought, 
the  result  will  be  happy  for  themselves  ^nd  for  the 
country. 

What  we  have  said  of  business^  applies  with  double 
emphasis  to  politics,  or  the  art  of  government.  Gov- 
ernment, or  politics,  or,  to  use  a  stiU  more  generip 


94  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

term,  sociology,  is  just  beginning  to  assume  the  form 
of  a  science  second  in  difficulty,  dignity  and  impor- 
tance, only  to  that  of  theology.  A  wide  observation 
of  facts,  and  a  profound  study  of  princijjles  alone,  can 
biing  it  to  perfection  ;  these  alone  can  prevent  it  from 
being  perverted  into  a  crude  mass  of  speculative  no- 
tions and  popular  caprices,  which,  undergoing  the 
process  of  fermentation  and  spontaneous  combustion, 
may  wrap  the  world  in  the  flames  of  a  vast  political 
and  social  conflagi-ation,  or,  enveloping  the  nations  in 
poisonous  gases  and  nephitic  vapors,  may  involve  them 
in  a  slower,  but  not  less  dreadful  destruction.  History 
and  pliilosophy  are  the  natural  and  necessary  hand- 
maids of  this  new  science  ;  the  torch-bearers  of  her 
progress,  to  shed  on  her  adventurous  and  difficult  path 
all  the  light  they  can  gather  from  ransacking  the  ages 
and  nations  that  are  past,  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on 
the  other,  all  that  they  can  brhig  up  from  the  deep  re- 
cesses of  human  nature.  Men  of  extensive  knowledge 
and  deep  thought  are  needful  to  develoj^e  and  mature 
the  science.  And  then  men  of  thoroughly  disciplined 
minds  and  comprehensive  views,  and  well-balanced 
character,  are  needed  to  apply  the  science  to  the  actual 
perfecting  of  society  and  government.  This  is  the 
great  work  of  our  age,  and  it  is  especially  the  mission, 
— the  2^oUtical  mission,  of  our  country. 

The  political  philosophers  and  practical  statesmen 
of  such  an  age  and  such  a  country,  cannot  dispense 
with  the  experience  of  the  past,  and  the  wisdom  of 
antiquity.  Still  less  can  they  dispense  with  the  per- 
Bonal  discipline  and  mental   balance,   the  moderation 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  95 

and  self-control,  wliich  are  usually  the  result  only  of  a 
thorough  education.  England  has  set  a  noble  exam- 
ple in  this  regard.  The  eminent  statesmen  who  have 
guided  her  safely  through  the  many  terrible  storms  of 
her  long  voyage,  and  brought  her  so  near  to  the  haven 
of  a  well-regulated  liberty,  imbibed  the  spirit  of  free- 
dom and  moderation  from  the  study  of  the  ancient  re- 
publics in  the  universities.  The  ablest  of  these  states- 
men were,  in  their  youth,  the  foremost  scholars  in  the 
universities.  "  Take  the  Cambridge  calendar,"  says 
Macaulay,  in  one  of  his  speeches  in  Parliament, — "  take 
the  Cambridge  calendar,  or  take  the  Oxford  calendar, 
for  two  hundred  years  ;  look  at  the  church,  the  par- 
liament, or  the  bar,  and  it  has  always  been  the  case 
that  the  men  who  were  first  in  the  competition  of  the 
schools,  have  been  the  first  in  the  competition  of  life." 
The  founders  of  our  own  republic,  too,  astonished 
the  world  by  their  boldness,  and  yet  by  their  wisdom, 
because,  though  born  and  bred  in  this  Western  wil- 
derness, they  evinced  in  their  writings  so  perfect  an 
acquaintance  with  the  political  history  and  philosophy 
of  ancient  times.  The  Federalist,  and  the  State  pa- 
pers of  that  day  generally,  are  models  in  their  kind, 
and  present  a  standing  illustration  of  the  use  which 
republican  statesmen  can  make  of  the  experience  of 
ancient  nations,  even  while  they  take  the  longest  strides 
in  improving  the  frame  of  civil  government.  The 
writers  of  the  Federalist,  who  also  bore  a  prominent 
part  in  framing  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
— Hamilton,  Madison  and  Jay — were  alumni  of  Colum- 
bia College,  and  the  College  of  New  Jersey.      The 


96  PUAYEli    FOlv    COLLEGES, 

author  of  tlie  Declaration  of  Independence  was  a 
member  of  Hampden  Sydney  College,  and  its  advocate 
on  the  floor  of  Congress  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
University.  The  multitudes  from  this  and  other  lands 
who  go  on  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  at  MonticellOj  read 
there  the  inscription  :  "  Thomas  Jefferson,  Author  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  Founder  of  the 
University  of  Virginia."  The  inscription  was  penned 
by  himself,  and  placed  there  by  his  own  direction. 
He  knew  that  knowledge  is  the  handmaid  of  Liberty, 
and  he  wished  to  be  remembered  not  only  among  the 
fathers  of  rej)ublics,  but  among  the  founders  of  uni- 
versities. 

The  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England  deemed  an 
educated  magistracy  next  to,  and  in  connection  with, 
an  educated  ministry,  of  indispensable  necessity  to  the 
well-being  of  the  church  and  the  state ;  and  it  was 
with  this  twofold  view,  that  they  established  Harvard 
University  at  the  very  commencement  of  their  colonial 
history,  building  it  on  the  borders  of  that  unbroken 
wilderness  which  still  covered  the  New  World.  In 
the  early  history  of  the  colonies,  the  magistrates  and 
ministers  were,  for  the  most  part,  ripe  scholars  from 
the  English  universities,  especially  Cambridge,  'and 
they  could  not  feel  that  their  social  and  political  orga- 
nization was  complete,  till  Neio  England  also  had  its 
university  at  Cambridge. 

The  civil  and  political  history  of  New  England  and 
the  Middle  States  for  half  a  century  before  and  after 
the  Kevolution,  may  almost  be  read  in  the  large  capi- 
tals which  distinguish  the  governors  and  judges,  the 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY,  97 

senators  and  representatives  in  Congress,  on  the  cata- 
logues of  Harvard,  Yale,  Nassau  Hall  and  Columbia 
Colleges.  Let  those  who  doubt  the  practical  utility 
of  colleges,  or  the  political  capacity  of  college-educated 
men,  examine  these  catalogues.  We  should  like  to 
put  those  demagogues,  who  would  fain  create  a  preju- 
dice against  colleges  in  the  public  mind,  to  the  study 
of  those  triennials  (if,  indeed,  they  are  capable  of  mas- 
tering the  easy  Latin  in  which  they  are  composed). 
Few  books  would  teach  them  sounder  doctrines  ;  few 
furnish  them  brighter  examples.  Yale  College  has 
educated  four  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, three  members  of  the  Convention  for 
framing  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  one 
Vice-President,  four  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  seven  members  of  the  Cabinet, 
thirty-nine  United  States  Senators,  one  hundred  and 
thirty-nine  Kepresentatives  in  Congress,  four  Foreign 
Ministers,  twenty-two  Governors,  eighteen  Lieutenant- 
Governors,  and  eighty  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
in  different  States  ;  thirteen  Presidents  of  Medical  So- 
cieties, thirty-six  Presidents  of  Colleges,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  five  Professors.  The  College  of  New  Jersey 
has  furnished  one  President,  two  Vice-Presidents,  four 
Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
fifteen  Judges  of  Supreme  Courts  in  the  several  States. 
twenty  Governors  of  States,  six  members  of  the  Cabi- 
net at  Washington,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty 
members  of  Congress.  Harvard  College  has  graduated 
two  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  one  Vice-Presi- 
dent, and  Governors,  Lieutenant-Governors,  Secreta- 
5 


98  rPvAYER    FOR    COLLEGES, 

ries,  &c.,  &c.,  too  numerous  to  mention.  Of  the 
thirty-five  thousand  graduates*  that  have  been  sent 
out  from  American  Colleges,  nearly  two  hundred  have 
been  Governors,  more  than  five  hundred  Eepresenta- 
tives  in  Congress,  one  hundred  and  thirty  Senators  of 
the  United  States,  and  nearly  four  hundred  Judges  of 
Supreme  Courts. 

Self-taught  men  have  filled  at  times  the  highest 
places  in  our  national  and  State  governments  ;  and 
this  fact  marks  at  once  the  strict  equality  and  the 
elevating  tendency  of  our  political  system.  But  the 
men  who  have  given  shape  and  character  to  our  insti- 
tutions have  been,  to  a  very  great  extent,  men  of 
liberal  education.  Classical  studies  are  peculiarly 
fitted  to  form  republican  statesmen.  They  exert  at 
once  a  stimulating  and  a  moderating,  an  emancipating 
and  a  conservative  influence.  Hence  the  remarkable, 
and,  at  first  view,  apparently  inexphcable  fact,  that  on 
the  European  continent  the  members  of  the  universi- 
ties are  generally  revolutionary  and  republican  in  their 
tendencieSjf  while  in  England  and  America,  where  a 
large  measure  of  freedom  already  exists,  they  are  usu- 
ally conservative, — very  seldom  radical  in  their  poli- 
tics. Classical  literature,  and,  indeed,  the  living  and 
breathing  literature  of  the  world, — the  literature  which 
men  will  not  let  die, — is  all  saturated  with  the  spirit 
of  liberty.     It  is,  in  no  small  measure,  the  undying 

*  This  calculation  was  made  in  184G.  The  number  has  of  course 
greatly  increased  since,  but  the  proportion  remains  about  the  same. 

\  See,  for  example,  Flagg's  Venice,  on  the  part  which  the  profcs- 
6ors  and  students  of  the  universities  took  in  the  Revolutions  of  18-18. 


A    PREBIIUM    ESSAY.  99 

voice  of  the  heroes  and  martyrs  of  freedom  and  hu- 
manitj'^,  sounding  along  down  the  ages  of  the  j)ast,  and 
pom-ing  its  swelling  and  stirring  notes  into  the  ear  of 
the  present.  But  while  this  voice  stirs  the  souls  of 
youthful  statesmen  to  their  lowest  depths,  it  also  warns 
and  awes,  softens  and  subdues  them.  While  it  in- 
vites and  commands  them  to  strike  for  liberty  and  hu- 
manity,— strike  at  all  wrong  and  oppression,  and  abuse 
of  2)0wer,  it  also  bids  them  beware  of  violence  and  ex- 
cess as  the  bane  of  free  States. 

With  this  exciting,  and,  at  the  same  time,  re- 
straining influence  of  the  ancient  classics,  the  divine 
teachings  of  the  Bible  harmonize,  building  the  just 
and  equal  rights  of  all  mankind  upon  the  firm  founda- 
tion of  the  immutable  law  of  God,  and  making  them 
free  indeed,  with  the  largest  liberty,  yet  forbidding 
them  by  the  most  sacred  sanctions  to  use  their  liberty 
as  a  cloak  of  licentiousness.  If  all  the  youth,  who  are 
to  be  the  rulers  and  guides  of  our  country  in  the  next 
generation,  could  but  be  brought  under  such  an  influence, 
democratic,  yet  obedient  to  law,  progressive,  yet  con- 
servative, classical,  and  at  the  same  time  Christian, 
then  might  we  live  and  die  in  the  confident  assurance 
that  our  liberties  would  be  safe,  our  institutions  j^er- 
petual.  The  mere  bringing  together  of  so  many  of 
the  future  statesmen  and  lawgivers  of  our  country 
from  different  sections,  and  educating  them  together, 
tends  to  perpetuate  the  Union.  Statesmen  who  have 
been  educated,  and  educated  together  in  the  same  in- 
stitutions and  the  same  classes,  will  be  slow  to  rend 
asunder  a  Union,  which  is  cemented  by  so  many  social 


100  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

ties  and  sacred  recollections,  as  well  as  so  many 
bonds  of  common  interest.  Christian  scholars  are  not 
likely  to  be  the  men  who  will  pamper  the  national 
pride  and  ambition  on  the  gross  and  fatal,  though 
popular  fallacies,  of  military  glory,  "  manifest  destiny," 
and  "  our  country  right  or  wrong,"  tiU  the  moral  sense 
of  the  people  is  blinded,  and  their  unbounded  appetite 
can  be  sated  only  by  universal  annexation.  If  this 
national  appetite,  which  grows  with  what  it  feeds 
upon,  is  ever  to  be  restrained, — if  these  dangerous  po- 
litical heresies  are  ever  to  be  corrected, — it  must  be 
done  at  those  fountains  of  public  instruction,  where 
our  youthful  politicians  imbibe  the  political  and  moral 
sentiments  that  govern  their  lives,  and  shape  the  des- 
tinies of  the  country  ;  and  that,  as  we  believe,  in  an- 
swer to  the  prayers  of  those  who  love  at  once  their 
country  and  their  God.  And  if  we  ever  despair  of 
the  republic,  it  is  only  lohen,  and  because,  we  see  how 
little  prayer  is  offered,  and  with  how  little  reliance  on 
its  efficacy,  even  by  Christian  patriots,  for  those  who 
are,  and  those  who  are  soon  to  he,  the  rulers  of  this 
great  nation. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Colleges  and  the  Churches— Kemark  of  Dr.  Dwight— Himself  a  Demonstration  of  its 
Truth— Schools  and  Colleges  owe  their  Origin  to  the  Church— Christianity 
friendly  to  Learning— Paul  a  distinguished  Scholar— Theological  Schools  at  Jcra- 
Balem,  Alexandria,  &c. — Keligious  Origin  of  European  Universities— Oxford,  Cam- 
bridge, &c.— Of  American  Colleges,  Harvard,  Tale,  &c.— Infidelity  and  State  Policy 
tmsuccessful  in  their  attempts  to  build  Colleges— Universities  of  Virginia  and 
South  Carolina— Girard  College— "Wonderful  success  of  the  Voluntary  Principle 
and  the  Christian  Spirit  in  such  Enterprises— What  Colleges  have  done  in  return 
for  the  Church— Indirectly  through  Christian  Schools— A  Christian  Press—Chris- 
tian Rulers  and  Professional  Men — Directly  in  an  Educated  Ministry — Proportion 
of  Ministers  to  whole  Number  of  Graduates  in  different  Colleges  at  different 
times— The  Reformation  sprung  from  the  Universities— Methodism — Missions- 
Revivals— The  Oxford  Heresy— The  Unitarian  Defection — The  Fountain  and  tho 
Stream. 

Dr.  Dwight  is  said  to  have  remarked  to  a  clerical 
friend,  that  the  man  ivho  would  shoiv  to  common  minds 
the  connection  between  colleges  and  the  interests  of  the 
church,  loould  he  a  benefactor  to  his  species.  It  were 
sufficient  to  point  to  Dr.  Dwight  himself  in  proof  of 
this  connection.  Behold  in  himself  we  might  well  re- 
spond, the  very  demonstration  which  he  asked.  Be- 
hold it  in  his  own  life  and  writings,  which  present  so 
fine  a  model  of  the  Christian  scholar  and  theological 
writer,  popularizing  and  vitaHzing  theology,  corroborat- 
ing revelation  by  the  light  of  nature  and  human  rea- 
son, illustrating  the  truth  of  Grod  by  the  literature  and 
science,  and  history  of  men  ;  and  thus  commanding 
for  it  the  assent  and  obedience  of  the  loftiest  intellects, 


102  mAYER    FOR    COLLEGES, 

while,  at  the  same  time,  he  commended  it  to  the  un- 
derstanding and  affections  of  the  humblest  minds  ! 
Behold  it  in  his  commanding  personal  and  official  in- 
fluence over  his  pupils,  whereby  he  convinced  the 
skeptical,  and  reclaimed  the  vicious,  and  quickened 
the  dull,  and  elevated  the  grovelling  ;  whereby  he 
transformed  the  creed  and  the  conduct,  the  morals 
and  the  religion,  of  Yale  College,  making  it  a  school 
of  Christ  instead  of  a  school  of  infidelity, — and  wherein, 
though  dead,  he  yet  liveth,  and  speaketh  with  mighty 
power  to  the  children  and  the  children's  children  of 
those  who  enjoyed  his  instructions.  If  one  president 
of  one  college  could  accomplish  so  much  for  "the  in- 
terests of  the  church,"  what  might  not  be  done  by  all 
the  officers  of  all  the  colleges  of  America,  if  they  were 
clothed  with  his  spirit  and  power  ! 

But  let  us  look  a  little  more  extensively  into  the 
origin  and  history  of  colleges,  that  we  may  see  what 
has  actually  been  their  relation  to  the  interests  of  the 
church. 

Schools  and  colleges,  wherever  they  exist,  almost 
without  exception,  owe  their  origin  to  the  church. 
Christianity  is,  in  its  very  nature,  friendly  to  learning. 
It  is  a  religion  not  of  forms  and  of  ceremonies,  but  of 
the  mind  and  heart.  It  saves  men,  not  by  outward 
means  and  apphances,  but  by  the  inward  workings  of 
the  truth  and  the  Spirit  of  God  in  their  souls. 
Knowledge  is,  therefore,  essential  to  holiness  and  sal- 
vation. Its  ministry  is  a  teaching  and  preaching  min- 
istry, not  a  mere  officiating  and  manipulating  priest- 
hood.     Its  sacred  books  contain  not  only  the  most 


A   PKEMIUM    ESSAY.  103 

stirring  truths,  and  the  most  commanding  motives, 
but  the  choicest  specimens  of  history,  poetry  and  phi- 
losophy, the  world  has  ever  seen ;  and  those,  too, 
originally  communicated  in  a  foreign  language,  and 
for  this  reason,  as  well  as  many  others,  requiring  pro- 
longed study  and  extensive  knowledge,  in  order  to  their 
full  understanding  and  appreciation.  Christianity  pro- 
duces an  inquiring,  observing,  thinking  and  intelligent 
laity.  It  demands  a  reading,  studying,  reflecting  and 
learned  ministry. 

The  first  ministers  of  the  gospel  were  taught  im- 
mediately by  Christ,  and  were,  moreover,  constantly 
under  the  especial  divine  teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
They,  therefore,  stood  in  little  need  of  human  learning. 
Yet  one  of  the  apostles,  and  one  who  exceeded  all  the 
others  in  his  labors  and  usefulness,  was  taught  in  the 
best  Jewish  and  Gentile  schools  of  Jerusalem  and 
Tarsus.  And  no  sooner  were  the  miraculous  gifts, 
which  signalized  the  first  establishment  of  Christianity, 
withdrawn,  than  the  churches  began  to  found  colleges 
and  theological  schools  at  Jerusalem  and  Alexandria, 
and  the  other  principal  cities,  for  the  especial  purpose 
of  raising  up  a  pious  and  learned  ministry,  who  should 
be  able  not  only  to  preach  the  truth  to  its  friends,  but 
also  to  defend  it  from  the  assaults  of  its  adversaries. 
And  though,  during  the  middle  ages,  learning  every 
where  suffered  a  disastrous  eclipse,  yet  what  light  there 
was,  shone  from  the  schools  in  the  monasteries,  which 
were  established  by  such  enlightened  and  pious  princea 
as  Charlemagne  and  Alfred,  chiefly  for  the  elevation 
of  the  clergy,  and  which  gradually  grew  up  into  uui- 


104  PRAYEU    FOR    COLLEGES. 

versities.  As  this  eclipse  passed  off  slowly,  and  uni- 
versities began  to  appear  in  Italy,  in  France,  in  Eng- 
land, they  were  established  and  fostered  by  the  church, 
and  chiefly  for  the  better  education  of  the  clergy. 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  were  founded,  and  in  the  course 
of  time  enriched  with  princely  endowments  for  this  ex- 
press purpose.  Zeal  for  religion  conspired  with  love 
of  learning,  and  college  after  college  was  added  to 
those  ancient  and  venerable  universities,  chiefly  for  the 
charitable  education  of  intelligent  young  men  for  the 
service  of  the  church. 

The  necessity  for  a  well-educated  ministry  of  the 
gospel  has  never  been  so  generally  and  powerfully  felt 
any  where  else  as  in  our  own  country  ;  and  this  feeling 
has  been  the  leading  motive  in  the  establishment  of 
by  far  the  larger  part  of  American  colleges.  "  Dread- 
ing to  leave  an  illiterate  ministry  to  the  churches, 
when  our  ministers  shall  lie  in  the  dust " — such  is  the 
language  in  which  the  founders  of  Harvard  College 
describe  their  own  motives  in  that  far-seeing  and  self- 
denying  enterprise,  which  they  undertook  just  as  soon 
as  they  had  provided  comfortable  houses  for  them- 
selves, and  selected  convenient  places  for  the  worship 
of  God.  And  sixty  years  later,  Cotton  Mather  says  : 
"  Our  fathers  saw  that  without  a  college  to  train  an 
able  and  learned  ministry,  the  church  in  New  England 
must  have  been  less  than  a  business  of  an  age, — must 
soon  have  come  to  nothing."  "  Pro  Christo  et  Ecclesia" 
—for  Christ  and  the  Church — is  to  this  day  the  motto 
of  Harvard  College,  though  sadly  fallen,  alas  !  from  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 


A   rilEMIUM   ESSAY.  105 

Yale  College,  as  we  have  already  mentioned,  was 
founded  by  ministers.  It  was  also  founded  cliiefly  for 
the  education  of  ministers  for  the  colony  of  Connecti- 
cut. It  originated,  as  they  tell  ns,  in  their  sincere  re- 
gard and  zeal  for  upholding  the  Protestant  religion  by 
a  succession  of  learned  and  orthodox  men. 

"  Princeton  College  was  founded  by  the  Synod  of 
New  York  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  church 
with  learned  and  able  preachers  of  the  "Word,"  And 
its  paramount  religious  design  and  spirit  are  well  ex- 
pressed in  the  language  of  President  Witherspoon  : 
"  Cursed  be  all  that  learning  that  is  contrary  to  the 
cross  of  Christ  ;  cursed  be  all  that  learning  that  is  not 
coincident  with  the  cross  of  Christ  ;  cursed  be  all  that 
learning  that  is  not  subservient  to  the  cross  of  Christ." 

"  Dartmouth  College  was  originated  in  the  warm- 
est spirit,  and  estabhshed  in  the  most  elevated  princi- 
ples of  Christian  piety." 

Amherst  College  grew  out  of  a  charity  school, 
which  was  established  for  the  education  of  indigent 
young  men  for  the  ministerial  and  the  missionary 
work.  It  was  born  of  the  prayers,  and  baptized  with 
the  tears,  of  holy  men  ;  and,  as  in  the  early  history  of 
Harvard,  the  colonists  contributed  of  their  deep  poverty, 
"  one  bringing  a  piece  of  cotton  stuff,  valued  at  nine 
shillings  ;  another,  a  pewter  pot  of  the  same  value  ; 
a  third,  a  fruit-dish,  a  spoon,  and  a  large  and  small 
salt-cellar  ; "  so,  in  the  founding  of  Amherst  College, 
the  friends  of  learning  and  religion  in  the  vicinity 
brought  in  the  materials,  and  built  up  the  walls  with 
their  own  hands,  while  those  at  a  distance  gave  in 
5* 


106  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

money,  or  the  fruit  of  their  labors,  wliatevcr  they  could 
spare,  which  might  conduce  to  the  endowment  of  the 
institution,  and  the  maintenance  of  its  officers  and 
students.  Such  self-denials  and  sacrifices,  as  were 
made  by  the  founders  of  these,  and,  indeed,  most  of 
our  colleges,  could  have  proceeded  only  from  religious 
motives, — only  from  hearts  overflowing  with  love  to 
Christ  and  his  church.  Amherst  College  was  one  of 
the  earliest  institutions  that  gi'ew  up  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  foreign  missionary  enterprise,  and  the  new 
impulse  which  was  thus  given  to  all  benevolent  efibrts  ; 
and  it  is,  in  its  character  and  history  a  type  of  a  new  class 
of  colleges  which  have  sprung  up,  particularly  in  the 
new  States,  and  which  may  be  called  emj)hatically, 
both  as  regards  their  origin  and  influence,  Missionary 
Colleges. 

"  Western  Keserve  College  was  founded  by  domes- 
tic missionaries,  and  designed  to  furnish  pastors  for  the 
infant  churches  on  the  Eeserve.  Illinois  College  origi- 
nated in  the  union  of  two  independent  movements  ; 
the  one  emanating  from  Home  Missionary  operations  in 
Illinois,  the  other  from  a  Society  of  Inquiry  respecting 
Missions  at  Yale  College.  The  site  of  Wabash  College 
was  dedicated  to  God  in  prayer  by  its  founders  kneel- 
ing upon  the  snow  in  the  primeval  forest.  Marietta 
College  was  founded  mainly  to  meet  demands  for  com- 
petent teachers  and  ministers  of  the  gospel." 

In  fact,  nearly  all  of  those  institutions  which  have 
lived  and  prospered,  and  exerted  a  decided  influence, 
even  in  our  literary  and  political  history,  were  estab- 
lished   by   evangelical    Christians ;    and    have    been 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  107 

taught,  for  the  most  part,  by  evangelical  ministers; 
with  a  direct  and  sj^ecial  reference  to  supplying  these 
churches,  and  the  country  and  the  world,  with  a  learned 
and  pious  evangelical  ministrj^  Institutions  estab- 
lished by  worldly  men,  for  mere  worldly  objects,  have 
not  prospered.  Infidelity  or  irreligion,  or  no  religion, 
may  have  founded  them,  but  it  could  not  sustain 
them  ;  and  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  transfer 
them  to  the  hands  of  religious  guardians  and  teachers, 
in  order  to  save  them  from  utter  extinction.  They 
have  been  planned  by  the  wisdom  of  political  sages, 
and  fostered  by  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  State, 
but  they  could  not  be  well  managed  and  governed 
without  the  sanctions  of  religion.  They  have  not  won 
the  confidence  of  parents  and  guardians,  for  even  irre- 
ligious parents  do  not  generally  want  their  children 
educated  in  infidelity  or  impiety  ;  and  Christianity, 
though  hated  in  itself,  has  been  welcomed  as  a  neces- 
sary means  ;  though  excluded  by  statutes  and  consti- 
tutions, it  has,  sooner  or  later,  been  admitted  to  a 
practical  and  controlling  influence.  The  history  of  the 
University  of  Virginia,  the  University  of  South  Caro- 
lina, Transylvania  University,  Dickinson  College,  Gi- 
rard  College,  and,  to  some  extent.  Harvard  College, 
had  we  time  to  give  it,  would  furnish  a  satisfactory 
demonstration  of  these  statements.  Baptists  and  Me- 
thodists, Congregationalists  and  Presbyterians,* — all 

*  Much  the  larger  number  by  these  last-named  denominations. 
Of  the  120  colleges  in  the  United  States,  13  are  Baptist,  13  Methodist 
and  Episcopalian,  and  the  rest,  for  the  most  part,  under  Congrega- 
tional and  Presbyterian  influence. 


108  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

the  evangelical  Protestant  sects,  have  their  iirosperoua 
literary  institutions  in  almost  every  State  of  the 
Union  ;  but  infidelity  has  yet  to  make  its  first  success- 
ful enteriDrise  of  this  sort  ;  and  State  policy,  State 
patronage,  exclusive  of  religious  influence,  cannot  show 
a  single  flourishing  college  from  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Great  Lakes  to  the  Pacific  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

These  are  remarkable  facts,  especially  when  con- 
sidered in  connection  with  the  voluntary  system,  and 
the  entire  ciN-il  and  religious  liberty  of  the  American 
people.  A  wealthy  and  powerful  establishment, — a 
church  wedded  to  the  State,  and  enriched  by  State 
patronage  through  successive  centuries,  we  might  well 
suppose,  could  secure  such  results.  A  rich  and  lordly 
hierarchy,  lording  it  over  the  consciences  and  the 
estates  of  the  whole  people,  we  should  think,  might  build 
religious  colleges  by  scores  in  every  part  of  the  country, 
or  might  subsidize  existing  literary  institutions,  and 
make  them  subservient  to  their  views  of  religion.  But 
that  the  free  voluntary  movements  of  so  many  difierent 
denominations  of  Christians  should  have  reared  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  colleges  in  difierent  parts  of  these 
United  States, — many  of  them  in  the  very  infancy  of 
the  States,  or  Provinces,  and  all  within  little  more 
than  two  hundred  years  after  the  first  settlement  of 
the  country ;  and  furnished  them  with  such  a  suc- 
cession of  learned  and  pious  teachers,  and  brought 
them  so  completely  under  the  controlling  influence  of 
a  practical  Christianity, — this  is  truly  remarkable. 
It  shows  that  Christianity,  with  all  its  divisions  and 
corruptions,  still  possesses  a  vital  energy,  and  is  still 


A    PllEMIUM    ESSAY.  109 

guided  and  guarded  by  Him  who  has  all  wisdom  and 
all  power.  It  shows  thafc  the  church  is  still  self-deny- 
ing in  her  spirit,  and  far-reaching  in  her  plans  ;  for 
nothing  but  self-denying  charity,  and  far-reaching  sa- 
gacity, will  plant  colleges  in  a  new  country,  when 
there  is  a  present  demand  for  the  necessaries  of  life, 
rather  than  for  high  mental  culture.  It  shows  that 
there  is  a  natural  and  mutual  affinity  between  religion 
and  learning  ;  that  each  alternately  seeks  the  alliance 
and  support  of  the  other,  while  both  are  left  to  the 
freest  action  and  development.  It  shows  that  the 
American  people  are  imbued  with  a  deep,  practical 
conviction  that  the  college  was  in  its  origin,  and  is  in 
its  nature,  a  religious  institution  ;  and  must  be  so, 
if  it  would  realize  its  projier  literary  and  political 
ends.  Above  all,  it  proves,  as  we  cannot  but  be- 
lieve, and  would  acknowledge  with  devout  gratitude, 
that  the  providence  of  God  has  watched  over  our  be- 
loved country  in  all  its  history,  and  guarded  it  against 
the  dangers  to  which  a  youthful  and  free  people  arc 
most  exposed,  as  if  he  intended,  in  spite  of  adverse 
agencies,  to  preserve  this  goodly  land  as  a  heritage  for 
himself. 

The  college,  then,  is  the  daughter  of  the  church, 
cherished  by  her  with  all  a  mother's  love  and  care,  and 
self-denial.  Has  the  daughter  done  any  thing  in  re- 
turn for  the  mother  ?  Surely  she  were  an  unnatural 
child  if  she  has  made  no  return  of  fiHal  love  and  ser- 
vice to  her,  to  whom  she  owes  all  that  she  has,  and  all 
that  she  is,  even  to  her  very  existence. 

Is  it  nothing  to  the  church  that  the  system  of 


110  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

popular  education,  the  preparation  of  text-books,  the 
examination  and  direction  of  teachers,  and,  to  so  great 
an  extent,  the  education  of  tlie  teachers  themselves,  is 
in  the  hands  of  men  who  have  been  trained  by  Chris- 
tian scholars  in  Christian  colleo-es  ?  Is  it  a  small 
thing  for  the  church,  that  colleges  established  by  her- 
self, and  conducted  by  her  ablest  and  best  men,  give 
tone,  in  so  great  a  measure,  to  the  literature  of  the 
country,  and  control  the  reading  of  the  people,  not 
only  in  books  of  history  and  philosophy,  and  poetry 
and  belles-lettres,  but  in  those  magazines  and  news- 
papers, which  now  occupy  more  and  more  the  pens  of 
our  most  thoughtful,  learned  and  elegant  writers  ? 
Is  it  of  little  or  no  consequence  to  tlie  church  that 
men  educated  at  Christian  colleges  have,  to  so  great 
an  extent,  filled  the  office  of  presidents,  and  governors, 
and  judges,  and  other  civil  magistrates  in  our  country, 
and  are  also  extending  their  influence  every  day  more 
widely  among  the  people  through  the  popularization 
of  learning,  and  those  countless  applications  of  science 
to  common  life,  which  are  pouring  wealth  into  the 
bosom  of  the  church  for  her  enterprises  of  benevo- 
lence ?  Is  it  nothing  to  the  church,  that  so  many  of 
our  lawyers  and  physicians,  and  other  men  of  influence 
in  the  community,  have  been  taught  in  college  to  re- 
cognize the  divine  origin  of  Christianity,  to  respect  the 
institations  of  religion,  and  to  carry  more  or  less  of 
Christian  principles  and  a  Christian  spirit  with"  them 
into  the  higher  walks  of  life  ? 

These  are  some  of  the  indirect  contributions  of  col- 
leges to  the  church.     Now  let  us  look  at  some  more 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  Ill 

direct  returns  of  revenue  which  she  has  received  from 
her  investments  in  colleges.  Let  us  see  how  well  they 
accomplish  the  more  immediate  and  more  prominent 
ohject,  which  the  church  contemplated  in  their  estab- 
lishment. 

The  ministry  of  this  country  has  been  an  educated 
ministry  from  the  first.  The  earliest  ministers  in  the 
colonies  were  of  course  educated  abroad  ;  but  soon 
there  rose  up  schools  of  the  prophets  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  the  churches  looked,  nor  looked  in  vain,  to 
Harvard,  and  Yale,  and  Nassau  Hall,  for  pastors  to 
feed  them  with  knowledge  and  understanding.  A 
minister  without  a  thorough  college  education  would 
scarcely  have  been  tolerated  among  the  Pilgrim  Fa- 
thers, or  their  descendants  for  a  hundred  years  after 
them.  Sects  have  since  sprung  up,  that  for  a  time 
eschewed  learning,  and  listened  to  rant  from  the  pul- 
pit, while  they  looked  in  vain  for  inspiration.  But  as 
they  have  grown  older  and  wiser,  even  these  sects  have 
fallen  in  with  the  spirit  of  the  country  and  the  age, 
and  now  they,  too,  demand  a  learned,  as  well  as  pious 
ministry  ;  now  they  yield  to  none  in  their  zeal  and 
liberality  for  the  establishment  of  colleges  and  theo- 
logical seminaries. 

The  clerical,  far  beyond  either  of  the  other  so-called 
learned  professions,  is  actually  composed  of  men  of 
thorough  classical  education.  Half-educated  fledg- 
lings are  fluttering  and  tumbling  into  the  practice  of 
law  and  medicine  more  frequently  now,  perhaps,  than 
at  any  former  period  of  our  history.  But  never  before 
was  there  a  smaller  relative  proportion  of  uneducated 


112  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

clergymen  ;  never  before  was  the  standard  of  clerical 
education  and  attainment  so  high,  and  so  imperative 
on  all  who  would  enter  the  sacred  office. 

It  never  has  been,  and  is  never  likely  to  be,  the 
doctrine  of  the  churches  in  America,  that  ministers 
can  be  qualified  to  interpret  the  sacred  oracles  without 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  original  languages,  or 
that  they  can  teach  the  wisdom  of  Grod  to  their  fellow- 
men  without  being  masters  of  human  knowledge. 

Nor  have  the  churches  looked  in  vain  to  the  col- 
leges for  well-educated  ministers.  More  than  half  of 
the  graduates  of  Harvard  College,  for  the  first  sixty 
years  of  its  existence,  became  ministers  of  the  gospel. 
Nearly  three  fourths  of  the  graduates  of  Yale  College, 
for  the  first  twelve  years,  entered  the  ministry  ;  and  a 
little  less  than  half  during  the  first  thirty  years.  Al- 
most one  half  of  the  alumni  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey  became  ministers,  during  the  twenty-eight  years 
which  preceded  the  American  Kevolution.  As  a 
country  grows  older,  education  becomes  more  widely 
diffused,  and  a  smaller  proportion  of  the  alumni  of  the 
older  colleges  enter  the  ministry.  But  the  sacred 
office  has  enlisted  the  talents  and  learning  of  from  one 
fifth  to  one  fourth  of  the  entire  number  of  the  alumni 
of  these  three  oldest  and  most  venerable  of  American 
colleges,  forming  an  aggregate  of  nearly  four  thousand 
ordained  pastors. 

Of  the  eight  hundred  graduates  of  Middlebury, 
and  the  nine  hundred  and  sixty  of  Amherst  College, 
nearly  one  half  have  devoted  themselves  to  the  sacred 
office.     Of  the  first  one  hundred  and   thirteen  <]cradu- 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  113 

ates  of  Marietta  College,  sixty-five,  or  considerably- 
more  than  half,  have  become  ministers.  Of  the  first 
sixty-five  graduates  of  Wabash  College,  forty-five,  or 
more  than  two  thirds,  have  chosen  the  same  good 
work.  At  Illinois  College,  forty-five  out  of  the  first 
ninety-four  alumni,  have  given  themselves  to  the  work 
of  the  ministry. 

Of  the  thirty-five  thousand  graduates  from  Ameri- 
can colleges  previous  to  1846,  as  many  as  eight  or  nine 
thousand— nearly  one  fourth,  were  preachers  of  the 
everlasting  gospel.  And  the  other  three  fourths  were 
educated  with  them,  heard  the  same  lectures  and  ser- 
mons, studied  the  same  text-books  of  human  and  di- 
vine wisdom,  occupied  the  same  rooms,  sat  in  the 
same  seats,  walked  arm  in  arm  through  the  same 
fields  and  groves, — were,  almost  of  necessity,  imbued 
with  more  or  less  of  the  same  spirit,  and  went  out  to 
exert  a  scarcely  less  important  influence  upon  the  in- 
terests of  the  church  and  the  world.  So  far  from  being 
a  matter  of  regret,  it  affords  occasion  for  devout  grati- 
tude, that  so  many  have  been  educated  in  so  favorable 
circumstances  for  the  other  learned  professions,  and  for 
stations  of  influence  in  society.  Who  can  tell  how 
different  their  character  and  influence  would  have 
been  had  they  been  uneducated,  or  educated  in  anti- 
christian  or  M?i-christian  institutions  ? 

Not  a  few  of  those  new  measures  and  grand  move- 
ments, which  have  most  seriously  affected  the  church, 
have  had  their  origin,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  colleges 
and  universities.  The  faith  and  practice  of  the  early 
Christian  church,  almost  from  the  time  of  the  apostles 


114  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

and  their  immediate  successors,  were  greatly  modified, 
— were  almost  modelled  by  the  schools  of  philosophy 
and  theology  at  Alexandria  and  Antioch,  at  Edessa 
and  Kome,  and  Carthage.  The  strange  mixture  of 
truth  and  error  which  prevailed  in  the  middle  ages  was 
concocted  in  the  schools  and  libraries  of  the  monaste- 
ries, and  thence  it  went  forth  diflfLising  life  and  death 
throughout  Christendom. 

The  Keformers, — those  before  the  Reformation,  as 
well  as  the  Reformers  usually  so  called, — Wickliffe  and 
Huss,  and  Reuchlin  and  Erasmus,  Luther  and  Melanc- 
thon,  and  Bucer  and  Calvin,  and  Tyndale  and  Bilney, 
and  Latimer  and  Knox,  were  men  trained  in  the  univer- 
sities, and  thus  prepared  by  the  providence,  as  well  as  the 
grace  of  God,  for  the  work  which  they  were  destined 
to  accomplish.  It  was  while  they  were  students  in 
the  university  that  new  light  dawned  upon  their  souls, 
and  the  Greek  Testament,  accompanied  in  several  in- 
stances by  the  Latin  translation  of  Erasmus,  was,  to 
most  of  them,  the  source  from  which  the  new  light 
shone.  The  larger  part  of  them  were  afterwards  pro- 
fessors in  the  universities,  and  from  these  fortresses  of 
learning  and  influence  they  hurled  their  missiles  at 
the  corruptions  of  the  papal  church  ;  from  these  cen- 
tres of  illumination,  they  scattered  light  over  the  dark 
nations.  The  Universities  of  Prague  and  Wittenhergj 
of  Basle  and  Lausanne,  of  Oxford  and  CamhridgCj 
of  Sti'ashurg  and  St.  Andrews,  were  the  birth-places 
of  the  Reformation:^ 

*  In  proof  of  this,   see  D'Aubigue's  History  of  the  Roforuintiou, 
every  wlicrc,  but  especially  in  his  fifth  volume. 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  115 

Methodism,  which  may  well  be  called  a  second 
Reformation,  which  not  only  gave  birth  to  a  new  and 
most  efficient  Christian  organization, — a  sort  of  Protes- 
tant society  of  Jesus, — but  infused  new  life  and  spiri- 
tuality into  the  other  denominations  of  evangelical 
Christians  ;  Methodism  took  its  rise,  received  its  name, 
and  began  its  conquests  in  the  University  of  Oxford. 
Wesley  was  for  ten  years  a  fellow  of  Lincoln  College, 
and  resisted  all  the  importunities  of  his  friends  to  leave 
his  fellowship  for  a  curacy,  saying,  that  he  could  do 
more  for  the  cause  of  Christ  and  the  good  of  men  by 
remaining  at  Oxford  :  "  the  schools  of  the  prophets 
were  there  ;  and  was  it  not  a  more  extensive  benefit 
to  sweeten  the  fountain,  than  to  purify  a  particular 
stream  ? "  Among  the  young  men  who  were  inti- 
mately associated  with  Wesley  at  Oxford  were  Hervey, 
the  author  of  those  "  Meditations "  which  have  aided 
so  many  in  the  cultivation  of  a  heavenly  mind  ;  and 
Whitefield,  whose  apostolic  labors  and  seraphic  elo- 
quence awakened  the  sleeping  Christians  of  two  hem- 
ispheres, and  led  a  multitude  of  lost  sinners  home  to 
God. 

Cambridge  was  the  alma  mater  of  Claudius  Bu- 
chanan, the  author  of  the  "  Star  in  the  East,"  and 
one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  work  of  missions  to  India, 
and  of  translating  the  Scriptures  into  the  vernacular 
tongues  of  that  great  peninsula  ;  also  of  Henry  Mar- 
tyn,  the  "  Senior  Wrangler"  •:'  of  the  University  ;  the 
disputer  with  Persian  Moollahs,  and  the  translator  of 

*  The  highest  academical  honor. 
G 


116  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES/ 

the  New  Testament  into  Persian,  whose  high  scholar- 
ship and  devoted  piety,  so  harraoniously  united,  entitle 
him  perhaps  to  the  name  of  the  model  missionary 
And  in  and  through  the  same  university,  "good  Dr. 
Simeon,"  who  gave  Martyn  the  first  impulse  to  a  mis- 
sionary Hfe,  long  continued  to  send  forth  an  influence 
which  has  leavened  a  vast  number  of  the  ablest 
preachers  and  leading  members  of  the  Established 
Church  with  his  own  pure  faith  and  active  piety. 

Nor  in  enumerating  the  sources  from  which  a  new 
spiritual  Hfe  went  forth  over  Great  Britain,  and  thus 
over  Protestant  Christendom  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
should  we  forget  to  mention  the  academy  or  college  for 
the  education  of  dissenting  ministers,  which  was  founded 
by  Dr.  Watts  and  Dr.  Doddridge,  and  in  which  the 
author  of  the  "  Eise  and  Progress  "  was  also  a  tutor. 

American  missions  to  the  heathen  had  their  birth 
in  a  little  circle  of  devoted  young  men,  whose  prayers 
have  hallowed  the  rooms,  and  the  very  fields  about 
Williams  College,  and  whose  example  has  blessed  the 
nations  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  The  precise  lo- 
cality where  Samuel  J.  Mills  and  his  associates  conse- 
crated themselves  to  a  missionary  life,  we  are  happy 
to  learn,  has  bee^  recently  identified,  and  it  is  to  be 
purchased  ajid  set  apart  as  a  perpetual  memorial  of 
that  sacred  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  church.  A 
higher  monunjent  would  mark  this  place,  were  monu- 
ments aijy  measure  of  the  importance  of  the  events 
which  they  commemorate,  than  rises  from  any  battle- 
field in  the  New  or  the  Old  World  ;  and  Christians, 
if  they  had  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  of  Christian  mis- 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  117 

sions,  would  go  on  pilgrimages,  not  to  Bunker's  Hill, 
or  Waterloo,  but  to  "  the  Haystack,"  near  Williams 
College.  The  sacred  flame,  which  first  began  to  burn 
there,  has  been  kept  alive  on  the  same  and  similar  al- 
tars. American  missionaries  have  not  only  been  grad- 
uates of  American  colleges,  but,  with  few  exceptions, 
they  consecrated  themselves  to  the  missionary  work, 
while  they  dwelt  in  college  walls.  Facts  show  that 
very  few  decide  to  become  missionaries  after  leaving 
college.  "  From  Dartmouth  College  have  gone  out 
twenty-four  missionaries  to  foreign  countries ;  from 
Amherst,  so  recently  established,  thirty-six  ;  from  Wil- 
liams, thirty-three  ;  from  Middlebury,  twenty-four."  * 
The  colleges  stand  in  a  no  less  sacred  relation  to  the 
cause  of  Home  Missions.  In  1850,  Amherst  had  as 
many  as  fifty  home  missionaries  in  the  field. 

The  men  for  all  our  benevolent  enterprises  must 
come  from  the  colleges,  and  will  carry  through  life 
very  much  of  the  character  and  spirit  they  had  when 
in  college.  Students-  give  more  money  for  benevolent 
objects,  in  proportion  to  their  means,  than  almost  any 
other  community.  This  may  not  be  so  with  all  col- 
leges and  higher  seminaries,  but  we  know  it  is  so  in 
more  than  'one.  We  have  seen  the  poor  student  throw 
his  last  quarter  into  the  contribution  box,  saying  (with 
a  sublime  faith,  not  perhaps  to  be  imitated  by  all,  but 
worthy  of  universal  admiration),  "  There  is  all  the 
money  I  have  in  the  world.     I  will  have  that  safe.'' 

But  money  is  the  smallest  contribution  which  is 

*  Dr.  Park's  Address  before  tlie  Weslerii  College  Society.     Tlie 
number  of  missionaries  from  Amlierst  is  now  (1854)  about  50 


118  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

made  by  students  in  college  to  the  cause  of  Christian 
charity.  They  have  first  given  themselves  to  the 
Lord  and  to  his  work,  wherever  and  whatever  it  may 
be.  With  a  faith,  like  that  of  Abraham,  they  have 
been  willing  to  leave  their  country,  not  knowing 
whither  they  go,  while  with  a  love,  like  that  of  Christ, 
they  have  offered  up  themselves  on  the  altar  of  recon- 
ciliation between  God  and  their  fellow-men. 

The  commencement  of  the  new  era  of  benevolence, 
— the  era  of  Missionary  and  Bible,  and  Tract  and  Edu- 
cation Societies — was  marked  by  the  establishment  of 
an  unusual  number,  we  might  almost  say,  a  new  kind 
of  colleges  ;  and  they  in  turn  have  sustained  and  fur- 
thered the  various  forms  of  associated  benevolence, 
with  unwonted  zeal  and  devotion.  At  the  same  time 
(to  their  honor  be  it  said,  as  well  as  in  truth  and  jus- 
tice), some  of  the  older  institutions  have  caught  not  a 
little  of  the  new  spirit,  and  lavished  the  accumulated 
treasures  of  their  wisdom  and  their  influence  in  the 
support  of  those  moral  and  religious  enterprises  which 
are  the  glory  of  the  age. 

Those  revivals  of  religion,  which  so  illustrate  and 
bless  our  times,  have  prevailed  in  colleges  with  greater 
frequency  and  power  than  in  any  other  communities  ; 
and  who  can  calculate  the  good  influences,  direct  and 
indirect,  which  revivals  in  colleges  have  exerted  on  the 
churches  ?  How  many  ministers  and  magistrates, 
professional  men  and  men  of  influence,  have  there  been 
horn  into  the  kingdom  of  Christ  ;  and  how  many  more 
re-converted,  so  that,  like  Peter,  they  could  strengthen 
their  brethren  ?     How  many,  while  members  of  col- 


A    riiEMlUM    ESHAY.  119 

lege,  have  caught  the_  sjjirit  of  revivals  and  of  missions, 
and  carried  it  home  to  the  church  to  which  they  be- 
long, and  with  the  characteristic  ardor  and  strength  of 
young  men  in  a  course  of  education,  diffused  it  through 
the  place  of  their  nativity  ?  And  when  such  men 
have  been  settled  in  the  ministry,  their  own  churches 
have  been  revival  churches,  and  missionary  churches  ; 
the  life  of  the  communities  around  them,  and  the  light 
of  this  dark  world.  It  has  been  estimated  that  one 
revival  of  religion,  which  took  place  in  Yale  College, 
under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Dwight,  raised  up  minis- 
ters who  were  instrumental  of  the  conversion  of  fifty 
thousand  souls  in  one  generation. 

Thus,  it  appears  that  marked  eras  in  the  history 
of  the  church  have  usually  been  marked  eras  in  the 
history  of  colleges,  from  the  establishment  of  the  first 
seminary  in  the  early  Christian  church  to  the  founda- 
tion of  the  last  college  in  our  western  wilderness. 
The  progress  of  the  churches  has  been  registered,  so  to 
speak,  and  their  attainments  have  been  secured  and 
perpetuated  by  the  colleges,  while,  in  turn,  every  new 
wave  of  thought,  and  tide  of  feeling  in  the  colleges, 
has  had  its  corresponding  wave  and  tide  in  the 
churches.  The  stream  will  not  permanently  rise 
higher  than  the  fountain.  The  fountain  determines 
the  quahty,  as  well  as  the  height  of  the  stream.  The 
college  and  the  church  are  alternately  or  mutually 
fountain  and  stream.  More  frequently  the  impulse 
originates  in  the  college.  It  was  so  in  the  Eeforma- 
tion.  It  was  so  with  the  Oxford  heresy.  The  Uni- 
tarian defection  in  New  England  originated  Derhans 


120  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES, 

with  the  churches,  or  rather  with  their  pastors,  hut  it 
has  been  perpetuated  by  Harvard  College.  The  tide 
rose  in  the  churches  till  it  burst  open  the  gates  and 
inundated  the  college,  but  now  it  has  turned,  and  is 
flowing  back,  more  gradually,  but  not  less  powerfully, 
and  even  more  effectively,  from  the  college  into  th& 
churches  and  the  community.  Let  all  our  colleges  be- 
come like  Harvard,  and  Unitarianism  would  overflow 
the  country.  Or  let  them  become  such  schools  of  in- 
fidelity as  Jefferson  and  Girard  would  fain  have  estab- 
lished ;  aud,  unless  they  are  abandoned  and  their  gates 
closed,  the  next  generation  will  forsake  the  religion  of 
their  fathers,  and  the  churches  will  be  deserted  by  the 
people.  Or  let  our  ministers  and  men  of  influence  be 
uneducated,  or  half  educated,  and  errors  and  heresies 
will  spring  up  like  thorns  and  briers  in  a  neglected 
field  ;  for  it  is  men  who  are  untaught  in  history  (espe- 
cially the  history  of  doctrines),  and  undiscii^lined  in 
their  mental  and  moral  faculties,  whose  minds  have 
been  the  hot-beds  of  theological  error  in  every  age  of 
the  church.  To  pray  for  the  colleges,  then,  is  to  pray 
for  the  churches,  for  an  educated  and  devoted  min- 
istry,— ^for  a  pure  and  Protestant  Christianity, — for 
foreign  and  home  missions, — for  evangelical  revivals 
of  religion ;  in  a  word,  for  churches,  that  shall  live 
and  work,  and  propagate  a  sound  faith,  lively  hope 
and  impartial  charity  through  the  world. 


CHAPTEK   IX. 

College  Life— Its  Temptations  and  Dangers— Its  Moral  and  Religious  Advantages— 
The  CoUese  a  unique  Community— Its  essential  Characteristics— A  Community 
of  Young  Men — Four  years  together,  from  Seventeen  to  Twenty-one— Constant 
Contact  with  their  Teachers— Subjects  of  Investigation— Eecitation— Morning  and 
Evening  Prayers- Public  Worship  and  Preaching  on  the  Sabbath— Influence  on 
each  other- College  Friendships— Enticements  of  Sinners— Counsels  and  Prayers 
of  Pious  Friends  and  of  the  Church- Fewer  Dangers  and  more  Safeguards  than 
in  most  other  Communities— Habits  of  Industry— System— Employment  of  Time 
—Christian  Teachers— Pious  Students— Facilities  for  Eeligious  Improvement— De- 
cisive Period— Same  Facilities  fruitful  cither  of  Good  or  Evil— Possibility  and  Im- 
portance of  turning  them  all  to  Good— Prayer  for  immediate  Conversion  of  Stu- 
dents. 

The  college  is  a  unique  community.  It  has  senti- 
ments and  usages,  not  to  say  a  law  and  a  dialect, 
peculiar  to  itself.  These  peculiarities  are  partly  tra- 
ditional, and  therefore  somewhat  arbitrary,  and  partly 
the  natural  result  of  the  elements  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed, and  the  manner  in  which  it  is  organized. 

The  essential  characteristics  of  college,  as  they  re- 
sult naturally  from  its  elements  and  organization,  are, 
that  it  is  a  community  of  young  men  at  that  age 
when  their  character  is  most  susceptible  of  being 
formed  and  established,  living  by  themselves,  though 
under  the  constant  oversight  and  influence  of  their 
teachers,  and  engaged  during  an  entire  period  of  four 
years  in  such  studies  as  are  adapted  to  discipline  their 
minds  and  form  their  habits  for  future  usefulness. 
Four  years,  from  seventeen  to  twenty-one  (for  that  is 
6 


122  rRAYEli    FOU    COLLEGES. 

perhaps  about  the  average  age),  spent  in  such  pursuits, 
and  under  such  circumstances,  must  contribute  largely 
to  the  formation  of  their  whole  character,  intellectual, 
social,  moral  and  religious.  Quick  to  perceive,  bold  to 
think  and  reason,  yet  easy  to  be  persuaded  and  influ- 
enced, their  minds  and  hearts  are  open  to  teachers 
whom  they  respect  ;  and  those  teachers  are  in  direct 
public  communication  with  them  some  three  or  four 
hours  of  every  day,  besides  frequent  private  interviews 
of  a  more  personal  and  confidential  nature.  Their  in- 
structors commune  with  them  on  the  most  delightful 
and  ennobling  subjects.  They  introduce  them  to  the 
familiar  acquaintance  of  the  historians  and  poets,  and 
orators  and  philosophers  of  antiquity  ;  the  heroes  and 
martyrs  of  ancient  history,  the  wisest  and  best  men  of 
every  country  and  every  age.  They  lead  them  back 
to  the  secret  springs  of  nature,  and  explore  with  them 
the  arcana  of  mathematical  and  physical  science.  They 
conduct  them  to  the  deeper  springs  and  remoter  ar- 
cana of  their  own  spiritual  being,  and  teach  them,  in 
the  knowledge  of  themselves,  to  lay  the  foundations  of 
all  knowledge.  They  teach  them  to  look  through  na- 
ture and  man  to  the  God  of  man  and  nature  ;  and  not 
only  do  they  teach  this  in  the  recitation-room,  but 
every  morning  and  every  evening,  as  well  as  twice 
every  Sabbath,  they  lead  them  to  the  lively  oracles  of 
the  only  living  and  true  God,  and  go  with  them  di- 
rectly into  the  presence  of  Plim,  in  whom  are  hid  all 
the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  And  never 
was  there  an  audience  more  attentive  to  an  able  and 
eloquent  preacher,  or  more  susceptible  of  impression 


A    rUEMIUM    ESSAY.  123 

from  solemn  and  weighty  truth  ;  never  a  congregation 
more  easily  and  entirely  swayed  by  the  truth  and  the 
Spirit  of  God,  like  the  waving  corn  by  every  wind  of 
heaven,  than  is  a  congregation  of  college  students  in  a 
season  of  unusual  interest. 

The  minds  and  hearts  of  students  are  peculiarly 
turned  to  each  other,  as  wax  to  the  seal.  And  they 
are  in  perpetual  contact,  acting  and  reacting  each 
upon  the  other,  from  week  to  week,  and  month  to 
month,  term  after  term,  and  year  after  year.  There 
is  no  community  like  college  for  the  propagation  of 
influence  ;  like  so  many  particles  of  a  fluid,  if  one  is  at 
rest,  all  are  at  rest — if  one  moves,  all  are  on  the  move  : 
impulses  are  communicated  without  delay  or  resistance, 
and  motion  is  simultaneous  through  the  whole  body. 
At  the  same  time,  there  is  no  community  where  im- 
pressions are  deej)er,  influences  more  permanent,  at- 
tachments more  enduring.  There  are  no  friendships 
like  college  friendships.  Many  a  David  and  a  Jona- 
than have  there  had  their  hearts  knit  together,  like 
the  heart  of  one  man,  in  mutual,  equal,  disinterested 
love,  which  death  could  not  sever.  The  name  of  class- 
mate and  room-mate  grows  more  and  more  sacred,  as 
other  attachments  fade  away,  and  we  draw  near  to  the 
end  of  all  earthly  connections.  Those  who  have  been 
members  of  the  same  division,  or  the  same  literary  so- 
ciety, however  widely  separated,  and  however  difierent 
their  lot,  will  never  forget  each  other, — will  watch  and 
follow  each  other  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  life  to 
the  very  borders  of  the  grave.  Hence  it  is  that  those 
reunions,  which  bring  together  college  acquaintance 


124  PIIAYER    FOR    COLLEGES, 

and  friends  at  commencement,  are  so  delightful ;  and 
to  none  more  delightful  than  to  those  who  have  out- 
lived other  connections  and  attachments,  and  stand 
trembhng,  almost  alone,  on  the  borders  of  eternity. 
Hence,  also,  the  peculiar  importance  of  his  friendships 
to  the  character  and  happiness  of  the  young  man  in 
college,  and  the  special  necessity  of  being  on  his  guard 
in  the  choice  of  his  companions.  His  ardent  and  sus- 
ceptible nature  is  easily,  quickly  attached  ;  and  yet  an 
attachment  which  thus  springs  up  in  a  day,  if  strength- 
ened by  four  years'  association,  will  grow  into  a  part 
of  himself,  and  become  a  permanent  element  in  his 
character  and  his  very  being. 

In  such  a  community,  where  influence  is  so  easily 
propagated,  and  yet  so  lasting  in  its  efiects,  tempta- 
tion must,  of  course,  have  peculiar  power.  The  ardent 
and  inexperienced  youth,  when  he  first  enters  college, 
is  exposed  to  a  fiery  trial.  He  will  be  sure  to  meet 
with  the  enticements  of  sinners,  for  in  the  best  col- 
leges, as  in  the  best  towns,  there  are  bad  young  men, 
and  sin  and  misery  always  love  company,  because  they 
always  need  it,  that  they  may  escape,  if  possible,  from 
their  wicked  and  wretched  selves.  He  will  be  tempted 
to  idleness,  and  idleness  every  where  is  the  parent  of 
vice.  He  will  be  tempted  to  eating  and  carousing, 
and  card-playing,  and  blasphemy  of  sacred  things,  not 
all  at  once,  but  as  fast  as  he  can  bear  the  shock  ;  and 
in  some  colleges,  he  will  be  enticed  to  the  perpetration 
of  vices  that  are  yet  more  fatal  than  any  of  these,  to 
the  body  and  the  soul.  He  needs,  therefore,  to  come 
armed  with  the  counsels  and  prayers  of  his  friends,, 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  12$ 

and  the  caurch  of  God.  He  needs  to  be  followed  up 
by  those  counsels  and  prayers,  by  the  watch  and  care 
of  pious  students,  and  by  the  frequent  warnings  and 
earnest  supplications  of  faithful  teachers.  He  needs 
most  of  all,  and  best  of  all,  the  safeguard  of  religious 
principle  and  experience  ;  to  begin  with  it,  if  possible, 
but  if  he  comes  to  college  without  it,  to  seek  it  for 
himself,  and  have  it  sought  for  him  by  others,  with  all, 
and  more  than  all,  the  assiduity  with  which  they 
guard  his  intellectual  training ;  with  all,  and  more 
than  all,  the  zeal  and  perseverance  with  which  evil 
companions  and  wicked  spirits  will  entice  him  to  sin. 
And  after  all  that  is  done  for  him,  he  will  go  astray, 
and  be  lost  for  time  and  eternity,  unless  the  grace  of 
God  restrain  his  wayward  will,  and  win  and  conquer 
his  depraved  heart.  Those  who  have  stood  long  on 
these  watch-towers  know  well  the  dangers  of  the  coast, 
and  cannot  but  raise  a  warning  voice, — cannot  but 
point  to  breakers  along  a  shore,  which  they  have  seen 
thickly  strewn  with  wrecks  of  the  proudest  ships  and 
the  most  precious  cargoes. 

Do  any  of  our  readers  say,  if  this  is  so,  it  is  not 
good  to  send  a  young  man  to  college  ?  But  where  are 
not  the  young  in  danger  ?  Where  else  can  anxious 
parents  send  their  sons,  and  feel  that  they  are  exposed 
to  fewer  temptations  ?  Where  else,  indeed,  will  they 
find  so  small  a  proportion  of  profane  and  licentious 
youth,  and  those  under  so  many  daily,  and  almost 
hourly  restraints  upon  their  evil  propensities  ?  Where 
else  so  many  young  men,  who  are  truly  pious,  and 
who  will  exert  on  those  sons  a  truly  Christian  influ- 


126  rUAYElt    FOR    CULLEGES. 

ence  ?  What  other  community  is  there  where  revivals 
are  so  frequent,  conversions  so  numerous,  professors  of 
religion  so  much  in  the  ascendency,  moral  and  religious 
influences  so  constantly  brought  to  bear  on  every  indi- 
vidual ?  In  one  word,  where  is  the  city  or  town,  or 
neighborhood — we  might  almost  ask,  where  is  the 
family,  in  which  there  are  so  many  helps  to  virtue  and 
piety,  as  in  our  best  colleges  ? 

College  life  tends  directly  to  habits  of  industry, 
regularity  Sindi  system;  and  these  constitute  the  strong- 
est barriers  against  dissipation  ;  these  cast  up  a  broad 
and  open  highway  to  every  virtue.  Every  day  has  its 
proper  occupations,  almost  every  hour  brings  its  as- 
signed duties.  Thrice  every  day  the  bell  summons  the 
student  to  meet  his  instructor  in  public  recitation  ; 
twice  to  appear  before  God  in  the  sanctuary  for  public 
worship.  The  morning  prayer-bell  forbids  late  rising  ; 
the  morning  recitation  almost  forbids  late  carousing  and 
deep  drinking  the  night  before  ;  and  at  no  hour  of  the 
day,  can  he  wander  very  far  from  his  duty  without  be- 
ing called  back  by  that  faithful  monitor.  The  studies 
are  not  only  occupying  and  engrossing,  but  interesting 
and  instructive.  While  they  discipline  the  mind,  they 
also  enhghten  the  conscience,  and  purify  the  heart, 
and  inculcate  by  precept  and  example  sacred  lessons 
of  wisdom  and  duty.  The  instructors  are  men  of  high 
moral  and  Christian  excellence,  who  cannot  forget  often 
to  remind  them,  that  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  be- 
ginning of  wisdom,  and  to  depart  from  evil  is  under- 
standing ;  and  that  though  they  have  all  knowledge, 
and  could  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  angels, 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY. 


12?/ 


and  are  destitute  of  holy  love,  they  are  nothing.  Very 
many  of  the  students,  also — in  not  a  few  colleges,  the 
majority — are  young  men  of  Christian  principle  and 
Christian  spirit,  who  aspire  to  the  office  of  ambassa- 
dors of  Christ,  and  who,  even  in  college,  are  Aobly 
ambitious  to  turn  many  to  righteousness.  Such  op- 
portunities for  Christian  communion  and  social  prayer, 
and  mutual  encouragement  in  the  divine  life  ;  so  many 
facilities  for  the  cultivation  of  virtue  and  piety  in  those 
who  have  the  good  seed  already  implanted  in  their 
hearts,  and  so  many  helps  and  inducements  to  com- 
mence a  religious  life  in  those  who  have  not, — are 
scarcely  to  be  found  any  where  else. 

These  causes  conspire  to  render  college,  notwith- 
standing its  temptations  and  dangers,  a  comparatively 
safe  place  for  young  men.  We  are  persuaded  that  pa- 
rents, who  are  obliged  to  send  their  sons  from  home, 
can  hardly  send  them  to  a  safer  place.  It  is  far  safer 
than  the  city  or  large  village.  Boys  are  ruined  by 
being  sent  to  college,  but  they  are  ruined  in  far  greater 
number  and  proportion  by  being  sent  away  to  business. 
One  in  four  (we  state  it  on  the  authority  of  a  mayor 
of  one  of  our  great  cities),  one  in  four  of  the  young 
men  who  go  from  the  country  into  the  city  to  engage 
in  business,  make  shipwreck,  not  merely  of  business 
prospects,  but  of  character  and  hajppiness.  Not  one  in 
ten  of  those  who  enter  college  so  degrade  and  destroy 
themselves  ;  and  a  large  part  of  these  were  effectually 
corrupted  before  they  left  home. 

The  same  causes,  however,  conspire  also  to  render 
the  college  course  a  great  crisis  in  a  young  man's  life. 


128  rilAYEK    Foil    COLLEGES. 

If,  in  spite  of  such  powerful  influences  for  good,  he 
does  leave  college  a  votary  of  Bacchus  or  Venus,  he  is 
in  great  danger  of  remaining  such  through  life.  If  he 
is  not  converted  in  college,  or,  at  least,  so  deeply  im- 
pressed with  religious  convictions  and  purposes  as  ere 
long  to  take  a  decided  stand  as  a  Christian,*  there  is 
a  fearful  probability  that  he  will  Hve  and  die  an  uncon- 
verted man.  If  he  ever  decides  to  become  a  minister,  in 
all  probability  it  wiU  be  in  college.  If  he  devotes  him- 
self to  the  missionary  work,  he  will  probably  do  it  in  col- 
lege. Few  who  fail  to  make  that  decision  as  early  as  the 
college  course,  ever  stand  on  missionary  ground.  His 
standard  of  piety  in  college  will  be  Ukely  to  be  his  stan- 
dard of  piety  through  life.  Not  but  that  he  who  is  a  de- 
voted Christian  in  college  will  grow  in  knowledge  and  in 
grace  in  the  seminary  and  in  the  ministry  ;  but  if  he 
is  not  a  devoted  Christian  in  coUege,  he  will  not  be  in 
the  seminary,  in  the  ministry,  or  any  where  else. 
Such  is  the  uniform  testimony  which  comes  back  to 
college  in  letters  from  the  theological  seminary  and 
from  the  parsonage.  Such  is  the  observation  and  ex- 
perience of  those  who  have  paid  particular  attention  to 
the  subject ;  and  such  we  might  expect  to  be  the 
general  fact  from  the  nature  of  the  case  :  for  those 
who  can  withstand  such  a  concentration  of  good  influ- 
ences as  are  brought  to  bear  for  so  many  years  on  the 
students  in  the  colleges  of  New  England  at  so  early, 

*  Those  who  have  sown  the  good  seed  in  students'  hearts,  "  weep- 
ing "  all  the  .way  tlirough  their  college  course,  are  sometimes  (expe- 
rience would  justify  us  in  saying  not  unfrequently)  rejoiced  at  hear- 
ing, that  it  has  sprung  up  soon  after  they  left  college. 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  129 

60  susceptible  and  so  critical  a  period  of  their  lives, 
must  incur  a  fearful  amount  of  guilt,  and  contract  a 
dreadful  power  of  resistance.  How  earnest  and  im- 
portunate, then,  should  be  the  prayers  of  all  the  friends 
of  learning  and  •  religion  for  the  conversion  of  young 
men  in  college  !  How  should  pious  parents  especially 
wrestle  with  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant  for  the  imme- 
diate conversion  of  their  sons,  saying,  I  cannot, — will 
not  let  thee  go,  except  thou  bestow  this  great  blessing. 
The  very  circumstances  that  prove  temptations  or 
hindrances  to  some,  may,  and  do  become  helps  and  en- 
couragements to  others.  Wherever  there  are  peculiar 
facilities  for  evil,  there  also  there  are,  or  may  be,  pe- 
cuhar  facilities  for  good.  Good  and  evil  both  dwell  in 
the  same  hearts,  appeal  to  the  same  natural  suscepti- 
bihties,  spread  according  to  the  same  general  laws,  are 
propagated  by  the  same  agencies  and  instrumentali- 
ties. The  same  agency  that  is  mighty  to  do  evil,  may 
be  made  mighty  to  do  good.  The  channel  in  which 
evil  flows  most  easily,  may  be  made  to  flow  full  and 
strong  with  good.  This  is  a  universal  law,  and  no- 
where is  it  more  strikingly  verified  than  in  college. 
In  some  institutions,  sometimes,  every  engine  of  power 
seems  to  be  employed  for  evil  purposes.  Every  chan- 
nel seems  to  be  filled  with  evil  influences.  In  others, 
good  and  evil  are  strangely  mixed,  and  almost  evenly 
balanced.  In  some  colleges,  at  some  times,  at  least, 
good  seems  to  be  entirely  in  the  ascendency.  Litera- 
ture, science,  society,  conversation, — intellectual,  so- 
cial and  moral  influence, — all  tend  towards  virtue 
and  piety,  heaven  and  God.  The  perpetuation  of 
6* 


130  PKAYEU    FOIi    COLLEGES, 

this,  or  something  like  this,  is  all  that  is  necessary 
to  make  colleges  a  heaven  on  earth  ;  a  heaven  of 
knowledge,  a  heaven  of  love,  a  heaven  of  holiness 
and  a  heaven  of  happiness.  Such  an  appropriation 
of  all  the  peculiarities  of  college  life,  of  all  the  en- 
ginery of  college  power,  of  all  the  channels  of  college 
influence  to  Christ  and  his  church, — such  a  sanctifica- 
tion  of  all  the  young  men  with  all  the  powers  and  sus- 
ceptibiUties  of  their  nature,  and  all  the  facilities  af- 
forded by  their  circumstances  and  relations,  that  they 
may  be  holiness  to  the  Lord, — such  is  the  consumma- 
tion towards  which  officers  and  pious  students,  and 
friends  of  education  and  friends  of  religion,  should  all 
look.  It  is  for  this  that  they  should  labor  in  the  use 
of  all  possible  and  suitable  means.  It  is  for  this  that  we 
invite  their  earnest,  believing  and  persevering  prayers. 


CIIAPTEE    X. 

Kevi^■al3  and  Conversions  in  College— More  freqnent  than  in  otlier  Communities- 
Statistics  of  Yale,  Dartmonth,  Middlebury,  Amherst,  Illinois,  Marietta,  Wittem- 
burg — Edwards,  Hopkins,  and  other  distinguished  men  converted  in  College — 
Number  of  Conversions  in  College  equal  to  half  the  number  of  Alumni,  who  have 
become  Ministers — One  fourth  of  the  Individuals  who  enter  the  Ministry  converted 
in  College — Number  of  Professors  of  Eeligion  and  Candidates  for  the  Ministry  now 
in  several  Colleges— Proportion  to  the  whole  number  of  Students— Need  of  more 
frequent  and  powerful  Revivals— Ecvivals  in  harmony  with  the  Nature  of  Man, 
with  the  Spirit  of  the  Age,  with  the  Constitution,  and  Circumstances  of  Young 
Men  in  College— Scenes  witnessed  during  Eevivals  in  College — Ilenry  Lyman — 
Bela  B.  Edwards— A  Revival  every  year  for  every  Class,  as  it  enters— Every 
thing  else  in  College  periodical,  why  not  Eevivals  ? — Favorable  to  Study — Every 
thing  attended  to  in  its  Season,  and  by  Eule,  why  not  Eevivals? — Why  only  ono 
third,  or  less.  Professors  of  Eeligion,  and  one  sixth  Ministers  ?— Mount  Holyoke 
Seminary. 


There  are  very  few  churches  in  which  revivals  and 
conversions  have  been  so  frequent  and  so  numerous  ; 
there  are  very  few  communities  in  which  so  large  a 
proportion  of  the  population,  especially  of  the  young 
men,  are  professors  of  religion,  as  in  the  colleges  of 
New  England  and  the  Northern  States.  This  has  al- 
ready been  asserted  or  implied  in  former  chapters.  So 
important  a  fact,  if  it  be  a  fact,  is  worthy  of  more  par- 
ticular consideration  ;  and,  if  it  be  doubted,  it  admits 
of  a  ready  and  ample  substantiation.  In  the  space 
of  ninety-six  years,  beginning  with  the  great  revival  of 
1741,  and  ending  in  1837,  there  were  twenty  revivals 
in  Yale  College,  in  fourteen  of  which  five  hundred  stu- 


132  PKAYEIi    FOR    COLLEGES. 

dents  were  hopefully  converted ;  and  during  the  last 
twenty-five  years  of  this  same  period,  there  were  thirteen 
special  revivals,  or  one  every  two  years,  besides  several 
other  seasons  of  more  than  usual  religious  interest.  In- 
deed, for  thirty  years  previous  to  1848,  revivals  occurred 
in  Yale  College,  on  an  average,  about  once  in  two 
years  ;  and  in  one  of  these  revivals,  there  were  a  hun- 
dred hopeful  conversions.  What  church  has  enjoyed 
as  many  revivals  in  the  same  time  ?  Among  the  sub- 
jects of  the  revivals  in  Yale  College  were  Evarts,  Cor- 
nelius, Nevins,  Hopkins,  Edwards,  and  perhaps  Dwight 
and  Bellamy  ;  and  a  multitude  of  Christian  soldiers, 
only  inferior  to  those  greater  leaders  of  the  sacramental 
host.  Who  can  calculate  the  influence  of  so  many  re- 
vivals in  which  such  men  were,  from  time  to  time, 
brought  into  the  kingdom  of  God  and  the  ministry  of 
reconciliation  ! 

In  Dartmouth  College,  in  the  space  of  sixty-five 
years,  nine  extensive  revivals  of  religion  were  enjoyed  ; 
the  converts  in  six  of  these  numbered  one  hundred  and 
seventy  ;  and  among  them  were  distinguished  minis- 
ters, leading  missionaries,  presidents  and  professors  in 
colleges  and  theological  seminaries,  and  other  men  of 
high  standing  and  influence  in  the  church  and  the 
State.  Middlebury  College  has  been  blessed  in  forty 
years  with  ten  revivals, — some  of  them  of  great  power. 
During  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  its  history,  every 
class  but  one  was  permitted  to  share  in  a  religious 
awakening,  and  some  classes  received  three  or  four 
such  visits  of  mercy  while  in  college. 

No  class  has  ever  yet  left  Amherst  College  without 


A    I'KKMIUM    KSSAY.  133 

witnessing  a  poAverful  revival .  of  religion,  and  scarce  a 
year  has  passed  without  some  special  interest  in  the 
church,  and  more  or  less  conversions.  During  the 
thirty  years  of  its  existence,  there  have  been  from  two 
hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred  hopeful  conver- 
sions. Of  these  converts,  more  than  one  hundred  have 
been  ministers,  fifteen  have  been  missionaries,  twenty- 
eight  officers  of  colleges  and  theological  seminaries  ; 
and  several  were  young  men  of  genius  and  great  pro- 
mise, who  died  before  entering  upon  a  profession. 
Their  names,  were  we  allowed  to  specify  some  of  them, 
would  illustrate,  even  more  than  their  number,  the  un- 
speakable value  of  a  revival  in  college.  We  can  only 
mention  among  those  who,  we  trust,  are  now  in  heaven, 
such  names  as  those  of  Prof.  Bela  B.  Edwards,  Prof. 
William  A.  Peabody,  Story  Hebard  of  the  Syrian 
Mission,  Timothy  Dwight,  who  had  devoted  himself 
to  the  cause  of  missions,  but  died  before  leaving  the 
country  ;  Rev.  George  P.  Smith  of  Worcester,  E,ev. 
Amos  Bullard  of  Barre,  Eev.  William  Bradford  Homer, 
— names  precious  in  the  records  of  young  American 
ministers.  All  but  one  of  these  were  tutors  in  Amherst 
College, 

In  the  first  twelve  years  of  the  history  of  Amherst 
College,  there  were  four  revivals  ;  in  Illinois  College, 
six  in  the  first  eighteen  years  ;  in  Marietta  College, 
seven  in  fifteen  years  ;  in  Wabash  College,  nine  in 
fourteen  years ;  and  no  class  has  passed  through  its 
collegiate  uourse  there  without  having  witnessed  from 
one  to  four  revivals.     Similar  to  these  has  been  the 


134  PKAYEii    FOli    COLLEGES, 

history  of  all  those  missionary  colleges  which  are  under 
the  patronage  of  the  Western  College  Society. 

"  Facts  seem  to  authorize  the  opinion,"  says  the 
Fifth  Report  of  the  Society,  "that  the  number  of  con- 
versions which  have  occurred  in  the  whole  history  of 
Yale  College  would  nearly  equal  one  half  of  the  whole 
number  of  its  graduates  who  have  entered  the  minis- 
try/' In  Amherst  College,  the  number  of  conversions 
is  known  to  bear  a  still  larger  proportion  to  the  num- 
ber of  ministers,  the  whole  number  of  conversions  hav- 
ing been  at  least  two  hundred  and  mty,  and  the  whole 
number  of  ministers  four  hundred  and  thirty-five.  For 
a  period  of  twenty-two  years  in  Middlebury  College, 
one  half  of  the  pious  graduates  are  believed  to  have 
been  converted  while  in  connection  with  college. 
"From  some  investigations  that  have  been  made,  it 
would  seem  that  the  number  of  hopeful  conversions 
among  the  youth  of  the  colleges  aided  by  the  Western 
College  Society  is  full  one  half  of  the  whole  number 
who  have  devoted  themselves  to  the  ministry.  It 
would  not  follow  from  this,  however,  that  one  half  of 
the  latter  number  was  actually  composed  of  those  par- 
ticular individuals." 

This  suggests  another  qu^tion,  which  deserves, 
and  has  received  the  attentive  consideration  of  officers 
in  college,  and  others,  who  are  interested  in  this  sub- 
ject,— namely,  what  proportion  of  the  individuals  who 
have  actually  entered  the  ministry,  were  hopefully  con- 
verted in  college  ?  The  writer  has  recently  examined 
the  triennial  catalogue  of  Amherst  College,  marking 
the  names  of  all  that  are  known  to  have  commenced 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  135 

their  Christian  life  in  college.  Of  the  four  hundred 
and  thirty-five  who  have  entered  the  ministry,  one 
hundred  have  thus  been  identified  as  having  been 
hopefully  converted  in  college  ;  and  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that  were  it  possible,  after  the  lapse  of  thirty 
years,  to  identify  the  entire  number,  they  would  be 
found  to  compose  one  fourth  of  all  who  have  entered 
the  ministry.  It  does  not  appear  that  investigations 
have  been  made  covering  the  whole  history  of  other 
colleges,  and  relating  to  this  particular  question.  But 
during  limited  periods,  about  the  same  ratio  has  been 
found  to  hold  in  several  other  colleges.  About  one 
fourth  of  all  the  alumni  of  Williams  College,  who  en- 
tered the  ministry  during  a  period  of  twenty-five  years, 
were  converted  in  college.  The  same  is  true  of  all  the 
alumni  of  Dartmouth  College,  who  entered  the  minis- 
try from  twenty-nine  classes,  commencing  with  1809. 
During  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Bates  at  Middlebury, 
about  one  fifth  of  the  alumni  who  became  ministers 
were  considered  as  fruits  of  revivals  in  colleges  ;  and  it 
is  believed  that  the  proportion  was  stiU  greater,  before 
the  Education  Society  sent  large  numbers  into  every 
class. 

Another  question  of  great  interest,  is  the  number 
of  professors  of  religion,  and  of  candidates  for  the 
ministry.  The  present  state*  of  eleven  colleges  in 
New  England  is  exhibited  in  the  following  table,  f  which 
is  the  result  of  recent  correspondence  between  the  So- 

*  February,  1853. 

f  Prepared  by  the  See.  of  the  Am.  Educ,  Soc. 


136 


PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 


ciety  of  Inquiry  in  Amherst  College  and  similar  socie- 
ties in  other  institutions. 


♦ 

Students. 

Professors  of 
Eeligion. 

Propfiring  for 
the  Ministry. 

Bowdoin  College, 

.     152 

37 

Waterville  CoUege,     . 

86 

46 

18 

University  of  Vermont, 

.     123 

30 

25 

Middlebury  College, 

60 

35 

17 

Amherst  College,    . 

.     187 

113 

77 

Williams  CoUege, 

201 

106 

71 

Brown  University, 

.     243 

80 

85 

Harvard  College, 

819 

30 

Yale  College, 

.     446 

130 

70 

"Wesley an  University, 

103 

78 

35 

Dartmouth  College, 

.     231 

60 

2163 


745 


348 


If  the  blanks,  which  occur  under  the  head  "  Pre- 
paring for  the  Ministry,"  were  filled,  it  would  doubtless 
add  some  fifty  to  the  number.  By  this  table,  it  ap- 
pears that  about  one  third  of  the  young  men  connected 
with  our  colleges  are  professors  of  religion,  and  a  little 
more  than  one  half  of  these,  or  one  sixth  of  the  whole, 
are  preparing  for  the  ministry. 

The  ratio  of  professors  of  religion  to  the  whole 
number  of  students  in  Amherst  College,  has  always 
been  more  than  half, — now  it  is  three  fifths ;  some- 
times it  has  been  two  thirds.  Often  nearly  all  the 
members  of  the  upper  classes  are  professors  of  religion  ; 
at  the  present  time,*  all  but  two  of  the  Senior  Class 
are  hopefully  pious.  And  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the 
professors  of  religion  have  always  been  studying  witli  a 
view  to  preach  the  gospel. 

*  1853. 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  137 

In  Western  Reserve  College,  the  ratio  of  pious  stu- 
dents at  different  times  has  varied  from  two  thirds  to 
four  fifths.  In  Wabash  College,  of  five  hundred  and 
seventy-one  students  that  had  been  connected  with  all 
the  departments  previous  to  1848,  two  hundred  and 
twenty  were  either  pious  when  they  entered,  or  be- 
came so  after  joining  the  college  ;  and  of  the  fifty-two 
who  had  been  graduated,  thirty-nine  were  hopefully 
pious.  Of  the  one  hundred  graduates  of  Marietta  Col- 
lege, previous  to  1848,  sixty  were  hopefully  pious 
when  they  entered,  twenty-three  were  hojjefully  con- 
verted in  college,  and  only  seventeen  graduated  with- 
out hope  in  Christ.  In  1848,  there  were  in  Knox 
College  (the  college  jiroper)  fifty-two  attending  mem- 
bers ;  of  these,  thirty-eight  were  professors  of  religion  ; 
and  of  the  two  classes  that  had  then  graduated,  all  but 
one  were  j)rofessors  of  religion,  and  were  either  prepar- 
ing for  the  ministry,  or  engaged  in  teaching. 

Now  what  other  communities  are  there  in  which 
revivals  of  religion  occur  so  frequently,  where  so  large 
a  proportion  are  hopefully  pious,  and  where  so  large  a 
proportion  of  those  who  remain  only  four  years,  become 
hopefully  pious  during  their  stay  ?  Certainly  not  at 
the  West,  under  the  eaves  of  our  Western  colleges. 
No,  not  even  in  the  East,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  col- 
leges of  New  England.  Let  the  comparison  be  care- 
fully made  between  the  colleges  of  New  England  and 
the  best  religious  societies  in  New  England,  and  the 
result  will  speak  volumes  for  the  religious  character 
and  influence  of  the  colleges.  Let  the  comparison  be 
made  between  the  young  men  in  other  communities 


138  rilAVKll    Foil    COLLEGES. 

and  the  young  men  in  college,  and  the  contrast  will 
be  still  more  striking.  This  is  no  ground  of  boasting. 
But  it  does  show  the  comparative  safety  of  our  col- 
leges, and  the  wisdom  of  sending  our  sons  to  them,  if 
we  would  see  them  converted.  It  is  occasion  for  de- 
vout thanksgiving  to  Grod,  that  wliile  his  wise  provi- 
dence has  intrusted  these  institutions  to  such  hands, 
his  grace  has  infused  such  a  sanctifying  power  into 
these  fountains  of  influence.  And  it  calls  for  earnest 
prayer  to  the  Author  of  all  good,  that  these  sacred  in- 
fluences may  be  perpetuated  and  increased,  till  these 
fountains  shall  send  forth  none  but  pure  streams. 

And  as  an  essential  means  to  this  end,  revivals  of 
religion  of  still  greater  frequency  and  power  should  be 
an  especial  object  of  prayer  and  eflbrt.  Kevivals  are 
in  accordance  with  the  analogy  of  nature,  which  has 
its  seasons  of  revivification  and  rapid  growth  followed 
by  seasons  of  ripening  fruit  and  maturing  strength. 
They  are  in  harmony  with  the  nature  of  man,  who  re- 
quires alternate  seasons  of  activity  and  repose  ;  of  stir- 
ring labor  and  excitement  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other,  of  tranquil  enjoyment  and  sober  reflection  ;  each 
in  turn  preparing  the  body  and  the  mind  for  the  other, 
and  both  in  their  due  season  imparting  health  and 
vigor  to  the  system,  and  consi^iring  to  produce  the 
largest  possible  results.  Kevivals  accord  especially 
with  the  habits  and  spirit  of  the  present  age,  which  is 
an  age  of  excitement,  of  division  of  labor,  of  associ- 
ated feeling  and  action,  of  concentrated  effort,  and  hur- 
ried enterprise  and  raj^id  locomotion  ;  and  religion,  if  it 
is  to  keep  pace  at  all  with  business  or  pleasure,  or  sin, 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  139 

must  fall  in  more  or  less  with  the  movements  of  men 
and  things.  Eevivals  of  religion  are  peculiarly  adapted 
to  the  constitution  and  the  circumstances  of  young 
men  in  college, — with  their  quick  impulses  and  lively 
sympathies,  their  love  of  excitement  and  activity, — 
the  exciting  and  engrossing  nature  of  their  pursuits 
also,  and  the  peculiar  force  of  their  temptations.  Oc- 
cupation and  excitement  are  to  them  a  necessity.  If 
they  are  not,  at  particular  times,  specially  excited  by 
the  thoughts  of  rehgion,  they  will  be  always  engrossed, 
if  not  by  something  hurtful,  at  least  by  something  not 
so  useful,  not  so  important,  not  so  essential  to  their 
temporal  and  eternal  well-being.  They  are  remarkably 
susceptible  on  this  great  subject.  Serious  thoughts, 
anxious  inquiry  and  earnest  prayer  spread  through  a 
community  of  college  students  with  the  rapidity  and 
the  power  of  an  electric  shock.  Every  eye  is  open, 
every  ear  attentive,  every  conscience  awake,  every  hearfe 
alive  to  this  one-engrossing  interest.  Dissipation 
ceases,  amusement  is  forgotten,  the  ball-ground  and 
gymnasium  even  are  forsaken,  silence  reigns  through 
the  rooms  and  halls,  broken  only  by  the  voice  of  prayer. 
Now  and  then  perhaps  a  number  band  together  for 
rioting  and  uproar,  possibly  to  make  sport  of  sacred 
things.  But  it  is  like  the  revelling  of  Belshazzar  and 
his  court  over  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  house  of  the 
Lord  ;  they  see  a  handwriting  on  the  wall,  and  their 
knees  smite  together :  the  next  day,  they  are  found 
penitent  and  believing  before  the  cross,  and  in  a  few 
years  they  are  preaching  the  gospel  in  the  far  West, 
or  publishing  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  the  more 
7 


140  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

remote  nations  of  the  East ;  or  perhaps  dying  a  mar- 
tyr's death  among  the  savages  in  some  tropical  isle.* 
Another  company  preferring  a  more  respectable  way 
of  ridiculing  serious  things,  invite  a  tutor  f  to  hold  a 
meeting  with  them.  He  complies  with  their  invita- 
tion, and  those  who  came  to  mock,  remain  to  pray. 
Scenes  like  these  send  a  new  thrill  of  wonder  and  joy 
through  the  whole  community.  The  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by  force. 
All  seem  to  be  pressing  into  it ;  and  in  the  course  of 
two  or  three  weeks,  the  conversions  are  counted  by 
scores.  Then  the  intense  excitement  gradually  sub- 
sides. But  the  impressions  are  permanent ;  the  fruit 
remains.  Under  proper  instruction,  and  watch  and 
care,  the  converts  in  college  are  found  to  hold  out  as 
well  as  any  other  congregation.  Oh,  if  we  could  but 
take  our  Christian  readers  with  us  from  room  to  room, 
and  hall  to  hall,  when  such  events  are  occurring,  and 
let  them  witness  with  their  own  eyes  these  thrilling 
scenes,  and  sympathize  in  their  own  hearts  with  these 
marvellous  transformations ;  or  could  we  place  them 
on  some  high  vantage-ground,  where  they  could  not 
only  take  in  at  a  glance  the  whole  literary  community, 
whether  retired  within  their  closets,  or  gathered  in  lit- 
tle circles  for  prayer  and  religious  conference,  or  as- 
sembled in  the  house  of  God  on  the  Sabbath,  but 
where  they  could  also  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  future 
history  of  those  converted  youths,  and  trace  the  results 
of  one  such  season  of  religious  interest,  then  they  oould 
not  withhold  their  prayers  for  revivals  in  colleges 

*  Henry  Lyman.  f  Bela  B.  Edwards. 


A    TREMIUM    ESSAY,  141 

Revivals  of  religion  are  not  yet  so  frequent,  or  so 
pure  or  powerful,  even  in  college,  as  it  is  greatly  to  be 
desired  they  should  be.  Why  should  not  a  revival 
occur  every  year,  that  every  class,  as  it  enters,  may 
also  enter  the  school  of  Christ  ;  and  as  it  advances 
from  year  to  year  in  the  college  course,  may  receive  a 
fresh  anointing  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  so  all  their 
studies  be  pursued  in  his  illuminating  presence,  and 
holiness  to  the  Lord  be  written  on  every  hall,  on  the 
door  of  every  room,  and  at  the  entrance  to  every 
heart  ?  Then  would  they  indeed  hioiu  all  things  which 
it  chiefly  concerns  them  to  know,  having  received  an 
unction  from  the  Holy  One. 

Every  thing  else  in  college  is  periodical.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  college  life. 
Why,  then,  should  not  special  attention  to  the  subject 
of  personal  religion  be  periodical  ?  Classes  enter  and 
leave  every  year.  Why  should  they  not  "be  converted 
every  year  ?  Why  should  this  not  be  distinctly  con- 
templated, expressly  aimed  at,  and  specially  provided 
for,  like  all  the  other  regular  exercises  and  arrange- 
ments of  the  institution  ?  This  would  not  be  incon- 
sistent with  the  design  of  such  institutions,  or  conflict 
with  the  studies  or  literary  attainments  of  the  student. 
On  the  contrary,  it  would  harmonize  with  that  design  ; 
nay,  more,  it  is  due  to  that  design  :  for  colleges  in 
their  original  plan  and  intention  were  meant  to  be  re- 
ligious institutions.  And  it  would  greatly  further  the 
advancement  of  students  in  learning  ;  for  the  princi- 
ples and  spirit  of  true  religion  are  the  surest  guide, 
the  strongest  stimulus  to  the  right  use  of  time,  to  the 


142  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

best  improveraent  of  talents  and  ojoportunities,  and  to 
the  most  successful  prosecution  of  all  useful  know- 
ledge ;  insomuch,  that  not  only  theologians  and  re- 
formers, but  philosophers  and  scholars  have  indorsed 
the  maxim:  "Bene  orasse  est  bene  studuisse;" — to 
have  prayed  well,  is  to  have  studied  well. 

Such  a  systematic  attention  to  the  subject  of  per- 
sonal religion  would  fall  in  not  only  with  the  design, 
but  with  the  general  arrangements  of  a  college.  Every 
thing  else  there  is  done  by  rule  and  system  ;  eveiy 
thing  else  has  its  allotted  time  and  place.  Why 
should  not  the  earliest  suitable  time,  and  the  first 
proper  place — why  should  not  the  best  time  and  the 
best  place  in  every  year  be  given  to  the  greatest  and 
best  object,  which,  when  assigned  its  proper  time  and 
place,  furthers  every  other  right  aim,  and  secures  every 
true  interest  ?  The  whole  economy  of  Nature  and 
Providence  is  regulated  by  times  and  seasons.  Why 
should  it  not  be  so  with  religion  ?  There  is  a  time  to 
sow,  and  a  time  to  reaj) ;  and  these  in  Nature  are  an- 
nual. Why  should  it  not  be  so  in  the  church  and  the 
college  ?  Why  should  any  church  entertain  a  preju- 
dice against  systematic  and  periodical  efforts  to  secure 
the  revival  of  religion  and  the  salvation  of  souls,  while 
they  have  a  time  and  a  j)lace,  a  period  and  a  system, 
for  every  thing  else  that  they  do,  and  do  to  any  pur- 
pose ?  Above  all,  why  should  this  prejudice  be  har- 
bored in  college,  which  involves — which  may  almost 
be  said  to  consist  in — a  series  of  periodical  action  and 
repose,  and  in  which,  from  its  earliest  establishment,  it 
has  always  been  intended  that  religion  should  hold  the 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY,  ,  143 

first  place  ?  Why,  we  ask  again,  should  not  every 
year  witness  a  revival  in  college,  and  every  class,  as  it 
enters  on  a  new  stadium,  receive  a  fresh  anointing 
from  on  high  ?  Why  should  any  class  graduate,  we 
do  not  say  without  a  revival,  but  without  having  wit- 
nessed as  many  revivals  as  they  have  spent  years  in 
college  ?  Why  should  any  individual  leave  these 
schools  of  the  church  unconverted  ?  Why  should  only 
one  third  of  the  members  of  college  in  New  England 
— only  one  third  upon  an  average,  and  far  less  in  many 
colleges — be  professors  of  religion  ;  and  why  should 
only  one  half  of  these  professors  of  religion — only  one 
sixth  of  the  whole  nimiber  of  the  students — devote 
themselves  to  the  ministry  of  the  everlasting  gospel  ? 

Is  this  the  highest  consummation  that  can  be  con- 
ceived as  possible  ?  this  the  largest  result  that  can  be 
made  real,  in  institutions  founded  by  the  church  for 
the  express  purpose  of  raising  up  ministers  of  the  gos- 
pel ?  Is  it  not — after  all  that  we  have  said  in  the 
way  of  congratulation  and  thanksgiving — is  it  not  a 
sad  falling  below  the  proper  standard  of  such  institu- 
tions, a  melancholy  failure  to  accomphsh  their  highest 
and  best  end  ?  Must  it  be  so  of  necessity,  and  for 
ever  ?.  When  other  professions  are  full  to  overflowing, 
and  men  cannot  be  found  to  supply  our  own  churches 
in  New  England,  stiU  less  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the 
destitute  in  the  new  settlements  and  among  the  far-off 
heathen  ;  when  the  world  is  one  vast  open  field  that 
invites  the  sickle,  and  the  harvest  (and  such  a  harvest ! 
a  harvest  of  immortal  souls,  which  angels  would  gladly 
gather)   is  perishing  for  want  of  laborers, — must  five 


144  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

sixths  of  the  alumni  of  New  England  colleges  devote 
their  energies  to  secular  pursuits  ?  It  is  incredible  on 
the  face  of  it.  From  the  nature  of  the  case,  we  know 
there  is,  there  must  be  more  power  in  the  instructions 
and  example  of  college  officers,  in  the  prayers  and  ef- 
forts of  the  Christian  church,  in  the  gospel  and  grace 
of  God,  than  has  yet  been  brought  to  bear  on  the  con- 
version of  young  men  in  college.  And  facts  show  that 
larger  results  have  been  realized  when  greater  and 
more  direct  efforts  have  been  made  for  this  express 
purpose.  At  Mount  Holyoke,  and  some  other  female 
seminaries,  where  this  is  made  a  direct  object  of  j)rayer 
and  effort  early  in  the  year,  revivals  occur  every  year, 
and  nearly  all  the  new  pupils  are  hopefully  converted. 
In  some  of  the  missionary  colleges  of  the  West,  revi- 
vals have  occurred  almost  every  year.  In  a  still  larger 
number,  more  or  less  conversions  occur  every  year  near 
the  beginning  of  the  course. 

When  young  men  first  leave  home  and  parents 
and  friends,  and  enter  strangers  on  college  life,  they 
are  naturally  thoughtful  and  serious  ;  they  feel  the 
need  of  divine  teaching  and  assistance,  and  almost 
spontaneously  cry  unto  God,  "  Our  Father,  be  thou 
the  guide  of  our  youth."  Under  these  circumstances, 
if  they  were  taken  under  the  especial  watch  and  care 
of  the  officers  and  pious  students,  and  kindly  warned 
and  entreated,  and  led  by  the  hand  of  Christian  fi-iend- 
ship,  and  compassed  about  with  an  atmosphere  of 
prayer  ;  and  if,  at  the  same  time,  they  were  borne  on 
the  arms  of  faith  and  prayer  by  the  whole  church, — 
who  can  doubt  that  a  revival  would  occur  every  year, 


••  A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  145 

and  almost  the  whole  class  be  converted  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  college  course.  How  different  then 
would  be  the  spirit  and  the  result  of  all  their  studies, 
and  how  different  a  place  would  college  then  be  ;  how 
much  more  a  realization  of  the  beau  ideal  of  a  Chris- 
tian college,  than  even  the  most  favored  of  all  these 
favored  institutions  now  is. 

The  possibility  of  realizing  such  a  result  by  more 
prayer  and  effort  wOl  receive  further  confirmation,  as 
we  proceed,  in  our  next  chapter,  to  speak  of  the  im- 
provement that  has  already  taken  place  in  the  spiritual 
condition  of  our  colleges,  since  they  have  been  made  a 
subject  of  special  prayer  by  the  churches. 


T^ 


CHAPTEE   XI. 

Concert  of  Prayer  for  Colleges— More  frequent  Revivals  of  Ecligion  attendant  on  in- 
creased Prayer  in  the  Clmrches— Increase  of  Italics  in  the  Triennials— State  of 
Keligion  in  Yale  College  the  last  half  of  the  last  Century— In  1TS3— In  1795— At 
the  close  of  the  Century— Compared  -with  1820, 1831,  &c.— Dartmouth  College— 
The  year  1820  a  new  Era  in  History  of  Colleges— New  Colleges— Concert  of  Prayer 
— Its  Origin  and  Kesults — Answers  to  Prayer — Eevivals  for  the  most  part  soon 
after  the  Concert- More  Prayer  likely  to  be  followed  with  still  more  glorious  Re- 
sults— Special  Necessity  for  Prayer  at  the  present  Time — Diminished  Supply  of 
Ministers  for  a  few  years  past— Causes- Increased  Demand — Extreme  Exigency — 
Fearful  Responsibility — Prayer  to  the  Lord  of  the  Harvest. 

The  religious  history  of  American  colleges  during  the 
present  century,  especially  when  contrasted  with  the 
latter  part  of  the  previous  century,  is  full  of  instruc- 
tion, and  full  of  encouragements  to  prayer  on  the  part 
of  all  the  friends  of  learning  and  rehgion.  We  get 
some  idea  of  the  change  that  has  been  going  on  during 
this  period,  by  simply  looking  over  the  triennial  cata- 
logues of  the  colleges,  and  noticing  the  gradual  increase 
of  italics,  which  mark  the  names  of  ministers,  from 
the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  down  to  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth.  Compare,  for  instance,  the 
last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century  on  the  Yale  tri- 
ennial with  the  ten  years  from  1830  to  1840,  or  from 
1840  to  1850,  on  the  same  triennial.  A  comparison 
of  all  the  triennials  that  extend  over  the  last  quarter 
of  the  last  century  with  the  triennials  of  the  colleges 


^^  A    I'll  EMI  UM    ESSAY,  147 

that  have  originated  in  the  quarter  of  a  century  just 
past,  would  furnish  a  still  more  striking  contrast. 

But  when  we  inquire  more  particularly  into  the 
relative  frequency  of  revivals,  and  the  proportion  of 
professors  of  religion,  we  are  surprised  and  delighted 
with  the  improvement.  Take,  for  instance,  some  facts 
in  the  religious  history  of  Yale  College.  Through  all 
the  last  half  of  the  last  century,  only  three  revivals  are 
recorded.  It  was  a  period  of  declension  in  the  churches 
also,  and  of  infidelity  and  immorality  in  the  country, 
when  the  disastrous  effects  of  our  own  Revolutionary 
War  (we  mean,  of  course,  the  moral  and  religious  ef- 
fects), and  still  more  of  the  French  Revolution,  in- 
fected, Hke  a  plague,  all  classes  of  the  people.  In  the 
first  twenty  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  there  were 
four  revivals  ;  in  the  next  sixteen  years,  there  were 
nine  ;  and  from  1820  to  1848,  there  was,  upon  an 
average,  about  one  in  every  two  years. 

In  1795,  only  eleven  under-graduates  are  known 
to  have  been  professors  of  religion  ;  about  four  years 
after,  the  number  was  reduced  to  four  or  five  ;  and  at 
one  communion,  only  a  single  under-graduate  was 
present,  the  others  being  out  of  town.  A  surviving 
member  of  the  class  of  1783,*  remembers  only  three 
professors  of  religion  in  the  class  of  1782,  and  only 
three  or  four  each  in  several  of  the  preceding  classes. 
In  his  own  class,  which  was  blessed  with  a  revival, 
there  were  eleven.  In  the  darkest  time,  just  at  the 
close  of  the  century,  there  was  only  about  one  profes- 

*  The  venerable  Kev.  Payson  Willistou,  of  Eastliampton,  Mass. 


148  PRAYER   FOR   COLLEGES. 

sor  of  religion  to  a  class  !  The  state  of  things  was  no 
better,  however,  in  the  churches.  A  young  man  who 
belonged  to  the  church  in  that  day  was  almost  a  mir- 
acle. Even  after  the  remarkable  revival  in  1802, 
when,  out  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  students,  about 
one  third  were  hopefully  converted,  the  number  of  pro- 
fessed Christians  in  all  the  classes  was  again  reduced 
to  fifteen. 

But  with  1820  begins  a  new  era  in  Yale  College. 
From  that  time,  there  was  a  revival  of  more  or  less 
power  every  year  for  five  years  ;  and  the  college 
church  has  never  again  sunk  so  low  in  numbers  or 
strength.  The  year  1831  was  a  memorable  year  in 
the  history  of  revivals,  both  in  colleges  and  churches. 
There  were  revivals  in  nineteen  colleges  ;  the  greatest 
number  (and  some  of  them  the  most  powerful)  that 
have  ever  been  known.  As  a  natural  consequence  of 
revivals  in  the  churches,  an  unusual  proportion  of  those 
who  entered  college  in  1832  were  hopefully  pious  ; 
fifty  out  of  ninety  in  the  Freshman  Class  of  Yale  Col- 
lege ;  and  one  of  the  professors,  in  a  letter  written  at 
the  time,  speaks  of  it  as  a  striking  fact,  and  a  new  era 
in  the  history  of  literary  institutions. 

Similar  facts  might  be  stated  in  regard  to  other 
colleges.  About  one  fourth  of  the  graduates  of  Dart- 
mouth College  became  ministers  from  1790  to  1800, 
and  only  one  fifth  from  1800  to  1810  ;  but  between 
1810  and  1830,  the  proportion  increased  to  one  third. 

The  year  1820,  which  we  have  already  spoken  of 
as  marking  a  transition  in  the  rehgious  history  of  Yale 
College,  introduces  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  colleges 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  *  149 

generally,  and  particularly  of  revivals  in  colleges.  It 
was  about  this  time,  that  an  increased  interest  in  the 
education  of  ministers  and  missionaries  led  to  the 
establishment  of  colleges  in  more  rapid  succession,  and 
with  more  express  reference  to  this  object ;  Water- 
ville  College  and  Western  University  in  1820,  Am- 
herst College  and  Columbia  (D.  C.)  in  1821,  Miami 
University  in  1824,  Western  Keserve  in  1828,  Illi- 
nois College  in  1830,  Wabash  in  1832,  Marietta  in 
1833,  &c. 

It  was  also  about  this  time  that  the  Concert  of 
Prayer  for  Colleges  began  to  be  observed.  The  origin 
and  some  of  the  results  of  this  important  movement 
are  given  as  follows,  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Western 
College  Society. 

"  Origin  of  the  Concert. — This  was  a  spirit  of  sup- 
plication among  Christians  in  behalf  of  colleges  and 
theological  seminaries,  created  by  statistical  informa- 
tion in  respect  to  them,  published  from  time  to  time 
in  the  Annual  Eeports  of  the  American  Education 
Society.  A  concert  of  prayer  was  first  established  to 
be  observed  every  Sabbath  morning.  Frequent  and 
powerful  revivals  of  religion  in  colleges  followed,  which 
seemed  very  much  like  answers  to  the  supplications 
offered  at  these  seasons  of  prayer.  The  children  of 
God  were  encouraged  to  persevere,  and  finally,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  circular  issued,  with  the  knowledge  and 
approbation  of  the  directors  of  the  American  Educa- 
tion Society,  the  last  Thursday  of  February,  1823, 
was  set  apart  by  many  of  the  friends  of  Zion  as  '  a 
season  of  fasting  and  special  prayer,  that  God  wiU  pour 


150  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

out  his  Spirit  on  the  colleges  of  our  country  the  present 
year  more  powerfully  than  ever  before.' 

^^  Answers  to  Prayer. — Subsequent  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Sabbath  Morning  Concert,  the  Spirit 
of  God  was  poured  out,  and  cheering  results  witnessed. 
From  1820  to  1823  inclusive,  there  were  revivals  in 
fourteen  different  institutions  ;  in  1824  and  1825,  in 
five  different  colleges  ;  in  1826,  in  six  ;  in  1827,  in 
four  ;  in  1828,  in  five  ;  and  in  1831,  in  nineteen  col- 
leges, resulting  in  the  hopeful  conversion  of  between 
three  hundred  and  fifty  and  four  hundred  students. 
In  one  of  the  colleges,  the  revival  commenced  on  the 
very  day  of  the  concert.  In  1832,  some  few  institu- 
tions were  blessed  with  the  effusions  of  the  Spirit ;  and 
also  in  1833,  A  larger  number  were  blessed  with  re- 
vivals in  1834,  and  no  less  than  eighteen  in  1835  ; 
and  between  one  and  two  hundred  students  were 
brought  hopefully  into  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  It  has 
been  estimated  that  fifteen  hundred  students  were 
made  the  hopeful  subjects  of  grace  in  thirty-six  differ- 
ent colleges,  from  1820  to  1835  inclusive." 

If  any  thing  could  make  still  more  apparent  the 
connection  between  tliis  Concert  of  Prayer  and  ihe 
firequent  revivals  of  religion  that  have  occurred  in  our 
colleges  since  its  appointment,  it  is  the  additional  fact 
that  these  revivals  have  nearly  all  occurred  during  the 
winter  term  in  which  the  concert  is  observed,  and  for 
the  most  part  shortly  after  its  observance.  That  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  favorable  season  of  the  year  for  spe- 
cial attention  to  personal  religion  in  colleges,  as  it  is 
also  in  churches.     There  is  also  no  doubt  a  natural 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  151 

tendency  in  such  a  concert  to  produce  such  results. 
When  the  eyes  of  the  whole  church  are  directed  simul- 
taneously towards  the  young  men  in  our  institutions 
of  learning,  it  would  be  strange  if  they  did  not  turn 
their  thoughts  towards  themselves  and  each  other  ; 
and  if  their  teachers  did  not  feel  deeply  their  responsi- 
bilities in  regard  to  them,  and  warn  and  entreat  them 
tenderly,  not  only  pubUcly,  but  in  private  ;  and  if 
pious  parents  and  friends  did  not  pray  for  them,  and 
write  to  them  with  peculiar  pathos  and  power, — thus 
producing  a  concentration  of  interest  which  it  would 
seem  must  burn  upon  the  most  seared  conscience,  and 
warm  the  coldest  heart.  And  God,  who  loves  united 
prayer,  and  also  works  by  all  suitable  means,  has  heard 
the  prayer  of  his  people,  and  made  use  of  these  favor- 
able circumstances,  and  given  efficacy  to  his  Word, 
which  is  usually  preached  with  unusual  pungency  at 
such  times  ;  and  the  consequence  is,  that  that  Winter 
Term,  and  more  especially  the  last  few  weeks  of  it,  have 
been  the  bu'th  season  of  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
young  men  in  college,  who  are  now  ministers  of  the 
gospel  and  teachers  of  youth,  and  missionaries  of  the 
cross  and  men  of  influence  in  every  department  of  life, 
in  almost  every  portion  of  the  world.  Could  the  con- 
cert be  observed  by  all  the  churches  ;  observed  with 
earnest  and  believing  prayer  not  only,  but  also  \^ith.  fast- 
ing (for  this  kind  goeth  not  out  but  with  prayer  and 
fasting^,  we  might  hope  for  far  more  glorious  results. 
And  if  our  colleges  were  also  remembered  every  Sabbath 
in  the  prayers  of  the  sanctuary,  and  every  morning  and 
evening  in  the  prayers  of  pious  families,-:— remembered 


152  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES, 

with  that  particularity  and  tenderness,  and  importunity 
and  faith  which  their  pecuhar  character  and  standing 
demands  from  the  whole  church,  and  which  the  provi- 
dence and  the  Spirit  of  God  have  so  conspicuously  sanc- 
tioned and  encouraged, — we  might  hope  that  the  good 
influence  would  not  only  be  felt  every  year,  but  be  dif- 
fused and  prolonged  through  the  year  ;  thus  preventing 
apostasy  and  inconsistency,  sustaining  a  more  uniform, 
as  well  as  more  elevated  standard  of  piety,  and  bring- 
ing into  the  ministry  whole  classes  and  colleges  of  such 
holy  men  as  God  could  consistently  own  and  bless  in 
the  speedy  conversion  of  the  whole  world  to  himself. 

We  cannot  conclude  this  chapter  without  advert- 
ing to  some  facts,  which,  at  the  present  time,  are  fitted 
to  awaken  special  anxiety,  and  which  conspire  with 
the  encouraging  circumstances,  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  to  call  for  special  earnestness  in  prayer.  For 
a  few  years  past,  there  has  been  a  serious  decline  in 
the  number  of  those  who  have  entered  the  ministry. 
The  highest  numbers  furnished  by  the  principal  Theo- 
logical Seminaries  in  New  England  and  New  York  in 
any  one  year  since  1820  was  in  1838,  when  it  reached 
one  hundred  and  sixty-eight.  From  that  time  there 
was  a  regular  decrease,  till,  in  1843,  it  fell  below  one 
hundred  ;  and  with  the  exception  of  a  single  year,  it 
never  rose  above  one  hundred  between  that  time  and 
1850.  The  number  of  students  connected  with  the 
Theological  Seminaries  of  New  England  alone  was  one 
nundred  and  twenty-five  less  in  1852  than  in  1840. 

If  we  pause  a  moment  to  inquire  into  the  causes 
of  this  decrease,  we  shall  find  in  them  increased  occa- 


A    TREMIUM   ESSAY.  153 

sion  for  prayerful  solicitude^  though  the  responsibility 
docs  not  attach  solely,  or  even  chiefly,  to  the  colleges. 
It  is  not  owing  to  a  decrease  of  college  students.  On 
the  contrary,  the  number  of  undergraduates  in  the 
colleges  of  New  England  was  greater  by  two  hundred 
and  five  in  1852  than  in  1840.  Moreover,  during  this 
period,  not  a  few  new  colleges  have  come  into  active 
operation  in  the  West  and  in  other  parts  of  the 
country. 

Neither  is  it  because  the  colleges  have  ceased  to  be 
blessed  with  special  outpourings  of  the  Spirit.  On  the 
contrary,  in  the  new  colleges  of  the  West,  at  least, 
the  period  of  decline  now  under  consideration,  and 
which  comprises  the  larger  portion  of  their  history, 
has  been  marked  by  numerous  revivals.  In  addition 
to  those  already  alluded  to,  four  revivals  occurred  in 
Knox  College  in  the  space  of  six  years,  ending  in  1852. 
A  precious  work  of  grace  was  enjoyed  at  Illinois  Col- 
lege in  1853,  and  another  in  the  early  part  of  1854. 
About  the  same  time.  Marietta  College  was  blessed 
with  one  of  the  most  powerful  revivals  known  in  its 
history.  And  in  1852,  the  revivals  in  our  colleges 
generally  were  more  numerous  and  powerful,  than  in 
any  year  since  1820,  with  the  exception  of  1831,  re- 
sulting in  the  hopeful  conversion  of  not  much  less 
than  three  hundred  young  men  connected  with  some 
fifteen  institutions. 

The  decrease  of  candidates  for  the  ministry  may  be 
referred  mainly  to  two  general  causes  ;  viz.,  the  com- 
parative unfrequency  of  revivals  in  the  churches,  and 

perhaps,  also,  in  some  of  the  older  colleges ;  and  the 

7v 


154  PKAYEK    FOK    COLLEGEb. 

prevalence  of  a  worldly  spirit,  turning  away  young  men 
from  the  toils  and  sacrifices  of  the  ministry  to  the 
numberless  and  tempting  fields  of  enterprise  that  open 
on  every  hand.  The  efiect  is  seen,  in  the  first  place, 
in  the  unusually  small  proportion  of  pious  students  that 
are  brought  into  colleges  from  the  churches.  In  1832, 
fifty  out  of  ninety  who  entered  the  Freshman  Class  in 
Yale  College  were  professedly  pious.  For  two  or  three 
years  past,  pious  students  have  numbered  less  than 
one  third  of  the  class.  Never  in  the  history  of  Am- 
herst College  has  a  class  entered  with  so  small  a  ratio 
of  professed  Christians  as  the  class  of  1850,  though,  it 
should  be  added,  that  there  has  since  been  an  increase 
to  nearly  the  usual  ratio.  In  Dartmouth  College,  the 
proportion  of  professors  of  religion  has  probably  never 
been  smaller  than  at  present ;  certainly  it  is  much 
smaller  than  it  was  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago. 

In  the  second  place,  the  operation  of  these  causes 
is  seen  in  the  fact,  that  in  most  of  our  colleges,  and 
probably  in  all,  a  smaller  proportion  of  pious  students 
enter  the  ministry  than  in  former  years.  Probably 
there  is  no  college  in  New  England,  where  so  large  a 
proportion  of  the  pious  students  enter  the  ministry 
as  in  Amherst  College.  Yet  in  Amherst  College, 
whereas  it  was  formerly  a  rare  thing  for  a  pious  young 
man  to  engage  in  any  secular  calling, — so  rare  as  to  oc- 
casion remark  and  surprise, — now  it  is  by  no  means  so 
rare  or  remarkable. 

We  have  spoken  of  these  causes  as  two.  The  cause, 
after  all,  is  radically  one,  namely,  the  prevalence  of 
a  worldly  and  self-seeking,  instead  of  a  self-denying 


a'  premium  essay.  155 

and  Christian  spirit  ;  and  the  remedy  is  one,  namely, 
larger  measures  of  divine  influence.  Nothing  else  will 
make  the  churches  more  reasonable  in  their  demands, 
and  more  generous  in  their  treatment  of  the  ministry  ; 
ready,  in  a  word,  to  remove  every  needless  toil  and 
trial  from  the  sacred  o£Q.ce.  Nothing  else  can  dispose 
and  prepare  unconverted,  or  even  converted  young 
men,  whether  in  the  college  or  in  the  community,  to 
bear  cheerfully  the  crushing  weight  of  labors  and  re- 
sponsibilities that  devolve  on  the  ministry  under  the 
most  favorable  circumstances.  Only  He,  who  made 
man,  can  make  an  able  and  faithful  minister  of  the 
gospel.  The  residue  of  the  Spirit  is  with  God,  and  he 
will  bestow  it  only  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  those 
who  love  Zion. 

If  we  turn  now  from  the  supply  of  ministers  to  the 
demand  for  them,  we  find  that  while  the  former  has 
been  diminishing,  the  latter  has  been  constantly  and 
rapidly  increasing,  in  consequence  of  the  vast  extension 
of  our  national  domain,  the  unparalleled  increase  of 
population,  the  organization  of  new  States  and  the 
multiplication  of  churches,  together  with  the  wide 
fields  opened  to  missionary  effort  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  Since  the  annual  supply  of  ministers  began  to 
decrease,  a  million  square  miles  have  been  added  to 
our  national  territory,  five  to  the  number  of  States, 
and  seven  millions  to  our  population.  Emigration  has 
been  pouring  its  hundreds  of  thousands — enough  to 
form  a  new  State — every  year  into  our  country  ;  and 
these,  for  the  most  part,  wedded  to  one  of  two  great 
and  growing  forms  of  fatal  error, — the  Celtic  races  to 


156  TRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

popery  and  the  Teutonic  races  to  infidelity.  The 
former  are  estabUshing  colleges  and  seminaries  at 
every  commanding  point,  and  summoning  all  their 
energies  to  gain,  through  timid  or  corrupt  politicians, 
the  control  of  our  common  schools.  The  latter  are 
holding  conventions,  lifting  up  their  voice  in  high 
places,  and  seizing  on  the  mighty  enginery  of  the 
press.  And  both  are,  at  this  moment,  marching  with 
unprecedented  boldness  to  possess  themselves  of  the 
sovereignty  in  the  great  cities,  both  on  the  Atlantic 
coast  and  on  the  great  rivers  of  the  West,  threatening 
to  trample  down  in  their  march  the  Bible,  the  Sabbath 
and  our  most  sacred  institutions.  Our  field  is  literally 
the  world.  Not  only  is  the  world  open,  and  the  har- 
vest every  where  ripe  for  the  labors  of  foreign  mission- 
aries, but  all  nations,  from  the  Emerald  Isle  on  the 
West  to  the  Celestial  Empire  on  the  East,  are  flocking 
to  our  own  shores.  Europe  looks  with  mingled  wonder 
and  fear  on  our  free  institutions,  our  growing  political 
and  moral  power  ;  and  while  despots  watch  for  our 
fall,  the  masses  wait  for  our  national  intervention,  or 
at  least  look  with  unutterable  hopes  and  longings  for 
our  social,  moral  and  religious  influence.  Asia  and 
Africa,  too,  hang  on  America  their  chief  hopes  for 
knowledge  and  liberty  and  eternal  life. 

The  concurrence  of  these  facts,  this  diminution  of 
supply  on  the  one  hand,  and  increase  of  demand  on 
the  other,  has  produced  an  exigency,  which  is  univer- 
sally acknowledged  and  felt,  and  which  brings  from  all 
our  missionary  boards,  and  from  all  our  ecclesiastical 
organizations,  loud  and  earnest  calls  for  men.     Every 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  157 

number  of  our  missionary  journals  comes  laden  with 
the  cry,  "  Give  us  men  ;  where  are  the  men  to  be 
found  who  will  carry  the  bread  of  life  to  the  millions 
that  are  perishing  with  hunger  ? "  And  the  cry  that 
thus  reaches  the  readers  of  these  journals,  is  only  a 
faint  echo  of  the  many  and  loud  voices  that  call  from 
the  North  and  the  South  and  the  East  and  the  West, 
"  Come  over  and  help  us  ! " 

Never  was  there  a  time  when  so  many  men,  and 
such  wise  and  holy  men,  were  needed  for  ministers  and 
missionaries,  and  teachers  and  rulers,  and  every  other 
post  of  influence.  Never  especially  was  there  a  time 
when  there  was  such  an  imperative  demand  for  a  nu- 
merous, learned  and  godly  ministry.  Never  did  such 
encouragements  and  such  necessities  meet  and  i)res8 
with  such  combined  force  on  the  consciences  and  the 
hearts  of  all  who  seek  the  prosperity  of  Zion.  And  at 
such  a  time,  that  there  should  be  a  decrease  instead 
of  an  increase  in  the  number  of  candidates  for  the 
ministry  ;  and  when  we  look  from  the  wasting  streams 
to  the  fountains,  that  we  should  find  the  supply  failing 
there  ;  that  at  such  a  time,  revivals  should  be  fewer 
and  less  powerful,  and  the  number  of  professors  of  re- 
ligion falling  off ;  and  a  smaller  proportion  of  these  even 
should  be  preparing  for  the  ministry,  not  only  in  the 
churches  but  in  the  colleges,  which  were  established 
for  the  very  purpose,  above  all  others,  of  meeting  just 
this  want  with  a  steady  and  permanent  supply  ; — is  it 
not  alarming  and  deplorable  to  the  last  degree  ?  Does 
it  not  roll  a  fearful  responsibility  on  the  guardians 
and  teachers,  on  the  patrons  and  pious  students,  on 


158  PllAYEll    FOR    COLLEGES. 

ministers  and  Christians,  on  all  wlio  have  any  connec- 
tion with  or  concern  for  our  colleges  or  our  churches, 
a  fearful  responsibility  touching  the  present  religious 
state  of  these  institutions  ?  When  the  wants  of  our 
country  and  the  cries  of  the  struggling  nations, — 
when  the  church  and  the  world, — when  humanity  and 
religion, — when  the  providence  and  Word  and  Spirit 
of  God, — when  every  thing  that  can  speak  and  every 
thing  that  hath  breath,  is  calling  upon  our  colleges,  as 
with  an  audible  voice,  to  go  forward  ;  to  train  and 
send  forth  the  captains  who  shall  lead  on  the  sacra- 
mental host  of  the  Lord's  anointed  to  the  conquest  of 
the  world  for  learning  and  piety,  for  heaven  and  God, 
— must  there  be  a  backward  movement  in  the  very 
van  of  the  army, — a  failure  of  duty  and  of  resources 
in  the  very  citadel  of  the  Holy  City  ?  Where  will  the 
responsibility  of  such  a  dereliction  fall  ?  or,  rather, 
where  will  it  not  fall  ?  Who  will  be  free  from  a  share 
in  the  guilt  ?  Who  that  has  any  sympathy  with 
Christ  can  fail  to  go  to  him  at  once,  and  plead  before 
him  the  very  argument  which  he  himself  has  put  into 
our  mouths  :  The  harvest  truly  is  great,  and  the  la- 
borers are  few ;  thou  Lord  of  the  harvest,  send  forth 
laborers  into  the  harvest  ;  and  to  this  end,  pour  out 
thy  Spirit  in  speedy  and  copious  effusions  on  the  young 
men  in  our  colleges,  who  need  only  a  new  heart  to  fit 
them  for  this  work ;  who  are  already  far  advanced  in 
their  intellectual  training,  and  who  alone  can  be  im- 
mediately prepared  to  meet  this  immediate  and  pres- 
sing necessity.  Thou  who  didst  feed  the  fainting  mul- 
titudes in  the  wilderness  with  the  few  loaves  and  the 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  159 

few  small  fishes,  pity  the  untold  multitudes  of  fainting 
souls  who  are  ready  to  perish  in  the  deserts  of  heathen- 
ism,— nay,  in  the  very  cities  and  villages  of  this  Chris- 
tian land,— to  perish  for  ever,  because  there  is  none  to 
break  unto  them  the  bread  of  eternal  life. 


CHAPTEK    XII. 

Responsibilities  of  Guardians  and  Teacbors,  Pious  Students  and  Pious  Parents— 
Trustees— The  Legislative  Power — Charge  of  Funds — General  Oversight — A  Re- 
ligious Society — Kesponsibility  for  the  Eeligions  State  of  Colleges — Power  of  Ap- 
pointment— Duty  to  appoint  Christian  Teachers— Faculty — The  Executive  Power 
— Immediate  Charge  and  Principal  pLCsponsibility — Scholars — Chiistians— Oppor- 
tunities for  Christian  Influence — Recitations— Prayers— Dr.  Dwlght— Preaching- 
Revivals- Personal  Conversation  with  Students — Prayer— Due  to  Themselves, 
to  their  Pupils,  to  the  Design  and  History  of  Colleges,  to  the  Church,  to  Mankind 
and  to  God— Pious  Students— Some  Advantages  even  over  the  Officers- Example 
— Power  to  do  Evil — Power  to  do  Good — Brainerd— Taylor — True  Distinction- 
Pious  Parents— Influence  over  Sons  in  Vacation— Power  of  Prayer — Facts— Re- 
vival in  Amherst  College— Converts  subjects  of  Special  Prayer— Children  of  the 
Covenant. 

The  responsibility  for  our  colleges  rests  primarily  on 
those  who  have  the  charge  of  them.  These  are  the 
trustees  and  the  faculty,  who  are  invested  the  one  with 
the  legislative,  the  other  with  the  executive  power. 
The  former  control  the  funds,  enact  the  laws,  and  ap- 
point the  teachers ;  the  latter  execute  the  laws,  ad- 
minister the  government,  and  impart  the  instruction. 

The  trustees  are  the  sole  legal  representatives  of 
the  college.  In  law,  therefore,  and  in  the  eye  of  the 
State,  the  sole  responsibility  is  theirs.  And  the  high- 
est moral  responsibility  devolves  ultimately  on  those 
who  have  the  supreme  power. 

The  trustees  are  invested  with  the  exclusive  dis- 
posal of  the  funds.  It  is  their  duty,  therefore,  to  see 
that  these  funds  be  neither  wasted  nor  perverted  ;  that 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  161 

tliey  be  faithfully  applied,  if  special  ilonations,  to  the 
purpose  for  which  they  were  originally  given,  or,  if 
general  funds,  to  the  object  for  which  the  college  was 
established.  This  is  not  a  responsibility  to  be  lightly 
esteemed,  or  carelessly  undertaken,  especially  as  our 
colleges  grow  older  and  richer,  and,  as  with  the  lapse 
of  time,  the  sacred  purpose  for  which  most  of  them 
were  founded  is  hable  to  be  forgotten,  or  overlooked. 
Such  a  trust  can  be  properly  discharged  only  by  men 
of  enlightened  minds  and  tender  consciences,  familiar 
with  the  history  of  American  colleges,  and  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  their  pious  founders  ;  skilled  in  the 
management  of  funds,  and  scrupulously  upright  in  the 
administration  of  them  ;  men  who  will  study  and  carry 
out  the  intentions  of  the  fathers,  or  founders,  with  the 
same  sacred  honor  and  integrity  with  which  they  would 
execute  the  last  will  and  testament  of  a  beloved 
friend  ;  who  will  watch  over  the  interests  of  the  insti- 
tution committed  to  their  care  with  all,  and  more  than 
all,  the  wakeful  solicitude  with  which  they  would 
cherish  the  welfare  of  orphan  children  commended  to 
their  guardianship  by  the  last  accents  of  parental  love. 
The  colleges  are  the  adopted  children  of  "parents  passed 
into  the  skies,"  and  the  trustees  are  their  guardians. 

The  trustees  are  charged  with  the  general  oversight 
of  colleges.  They  are,  therefore,  j)roperly  responsi- 
ble for  its  general  character  and  state,  whether  as 
it  regards  Hterature,  morals  or  religion.  To  this  end, 
they  must  be  qualified  to  judge  of  all  those  great  in- 
terests ;  and  not  only  competent,  but  disposed  to  de- 
vise suitable  ways  and  means  for  their  advancement 


162  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES, 

Tliey  should  bo»  intelligent  men — themselves,  for  the 
mpst  part,  of  collegiate  education  ;  acquainted  by  per- 
sonal experience,  not  only  with  literature  and  science, 
but  with  college  life.  They  should  be  Christian  men, 
men  of  experimental  piety  and  Christian  benevolence  ; 
who  will  give  religion  that  first  place  in  their  hearts, 
and,  so  far  as  in  them  lies,  in  the  institution,  to  which 
it  is,  in  its  own  nature,  entitled,  and  which  it  has  re- 
ceived in  all  the  early  history  of  American  colleges. 
The  college  is,  in  its  origin,  essentially  a  religious  in- 
stitution ;  and  it  is  the  first  duty,  the  paramount  ob- 
ligation of  the  trustees,  to  see  that  it  answers,  in  this 
respect,  its  original  intention.  The  trustees  of  Yale 
College  early  claimed  that  colleges  are,  in  their  nature, 
religious  societies  ;  that  the  corporation,  as  the  head 
of  such  a  society,  are  so  far  forth  an  ecclesiastical  body  ; 
and  accordingly,  by  their  own  authority,  they  consti- 
tuted the  first  church  in  the  college,  and  installed  the 
professor  of  divinity  its  first  pastor.  Whatever  may 
be  thought  of  such  a  claim,  the  trustees  of  our  colleges 
are  certainly  bound,  in  view  of  such  facts,  to  feel  a  pe- 
culiar responsibility  for  the  religious  character  of  the 
institutions  under  their  care  ;  to  know  what  their  re- 
ligious state  is,  and  see  that  it  is  what  it  should  be,  so 
far  as  their  corporate  action  can  make  and  keep  it  so. 
Above  all,  it  is  incumbent  on  them  to  watch  and  pray, 
that  nothing  be  suffered  to  hinder  or  impair  those  di- 
vine influences,  which  have  been  the  prosperity  and 
glory  of  American  colleges,  and  which,  from  these 
fountains,  have  flowed  in  such  copious  streams  over 
the   American   churches   and   the   American   people. 


A    PKEMIUM    ESSAY.  163 

Unless  they  come  up  to  this  standard,  we  see  not  how 
they  can  be  morally  guiltless  of  a  serious  breach  of 
trust. 

But  it  is  in  the  exercise  of  the  appointing  power, 
that  the  trustees  exert  the  most  direct  and  decisive  in- 
fluence over  the  college.  And  this  brings  us  to  the 
consideration  of  the  collateral  question,  what  sort  of 
men  should  compose  the  faculty,  on  whom  devolves 
the  immediate  government  and  instruction. 

They  must  of  course  be  learned  men,  disciplined  in 
mind,  cultivated  in  taste,  thoroughly  trained  in  all  the 
branches  of  literature  and  science,  and  especially  mas- 
ters of  the  department  to  which  they  devote  them- 
selves ;  apt  to  teach  also,  sound  in  their  principles, 
correct  in  their  habits  ;  so  far  as  possible,  model  teach- 
ers and  model  men.  This  is  a  thing  of  such  obvious 
and  acknowledged  necessity,  that  it  will  be  looked  to 
as  a  matter  of  course.  An  instructor  in  college  with- 
out distinguished  Uterary  attainments  and  an  unblem- 
ished moral  character,  would  be  immediately  pro- 
nounced unfit  for  his  office  ;  and  the  college,  whose 
president  and  professors  should  be  deficient  in  these 
intellectual  and  moral  qualifications,  would  soon  be 
destitute  also  of  pupils  and  patrons. 

But  is  their  religious  character  and  influence  less 
important  ?  Is  religion  so  unimportant  in  itself,  and 
so  irrelevant  to  the  design  of  a  college,  that  genuine 
piety  should  not  be  deemed  an  essential  qualification 
of  a  college  officer ;  that  he  should  be  appointed  to 
the  office  without  once  raising  the  question,  whether 
he  is  a  Christian,  and  be  suffered  to  make  his  mark  on 


164  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES, 

hundreds  of  leading  minds,  hundreds  of  immortal 
spirits,  without  any  inquiry  whether  it  is  a  Christian 
impress  ?  Not  in  a  Christian  country,  which  owes  its 
unexampled  prosperity  to  the  Christian  religion.  Not 
by  the  Christian  church,  whose  members  hang  all  their 
hopes  for  this  life  and  the  next  on  that  rehgion.  Not 
in  Christian  colleges,  which  were  founded  by  holy  men 
chiefly  for  sacred  purposes. 

The  officers  of  college  may  be  all  that  we  have 
above  supposed,  in  their  intellectual  and  moral  quali- 
fications, and  yet  be  radically  unfit  for  their  office. 
They  must  be  Christians,  and  that  not  merely  by  pro- 
fession and  creed,  but  practically,  experimentally, 
heartily  Christian ;  eminently  holy  and  devoted  men, 
full  of  love  to  Christ  and  all  for  whom  Christ  died, — 
whose  hearts  shall  be  in  lively  sympathy  with  revivals. 
Christian  missions,  and  every  enterprise  of  benevo- 
lence ;  and  whose  learning,  all  baptized  in  a  purer 
fount,  shall  all  be  consecrated  to  the  cause  of  charity, 
humanity  and  God.  The  want  of  such  a  Christian 
spirit  is,  in  reality,  and  should  be  esteemed,  a  disquali- 
fication for  the  office,  less  glaring  perhaps,  but  not  less 
essential  and  fatal,  than  the  want  of  learning  or  the 
want  of  a  good  moral  character.  We  are  well  aware 
that  when  religious  considerations  are  allowed  to  inter- 
fere with  the  claims  of  a  candidate  otherwise  well 
qualified  for  a  professorship,  there  are  always  enough 
to  raise  the  cry  of  "sectarianism,"  "proscription," 
"  rehgious  test,"  &c.  But  if  we  have  taken  the  right 
view  of  the  design  and  history  of  American  colleges, 
religious  considerations  ought  to  have,  not  only  some, 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY,  165 

but  paramount  influence  in  such  appointments.  Few, 
if  any,  of  those  who  make  the  outcry  against  "  re- 
ligious tests/'  would  exclude  them  altogether.  Would 
they  consider  a  Hume  or  a  Gibbon  a  suitable  candidate 
for  the  historical  professorship  in  an  English  university 
or  an  American  college  ?  But  why  not  ?  He  would 
probably  distance  all  competitors  in  his  mastery  of  the 
facts  and  the  philosophy  of  history.  "Would  they  be 
accessory  to  the  appointment  of  a  Voltaire  or  a  Con- 
dorcet  to  the  chair  of  ethical  and  political  philosophy  ? 
But  why  not  ?  These  were  men  of  brilliant  talents 
and  vast  erudition.  Why  then  complain,  if  the  trus- 
tees of  a  college  founded  by  Christian  men,  and  pri- 
marily for  a  Christian  object,  should  refuse  to  elect  to 
the  professorship  of  Natural  Science,  or  of  Ancient 
Languages, — to  say  notliing  of  Divinity, — a  man,  how- 
ever well  qualified  in  other  respects,  who  can  see  no 
footsteps  of  a  personal  Creator  in  the  material  universe, 
or  who  can  find  no  traces  of  a  divine  Kedeemer  in  the 
Scriptures  ?  The  truth  is,  our  colleges  are  founda- 
tions "  sacred  to  Christ  and  his  church,"  and  to  place 
upon  them  an  incumbent  who  does  not  hold  the  truth 
and  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  is  to  desecrate  them.  They 
are  religious  institutions,  and  to  secularize  them  is  to 
pervert  them.  So  it  would  have  seemed  in  the  eyes 
of  the  founders ;  and  men  who  will  not  exercise  the 
responsible  functions  of  the  appointing  power  on  the 
same  principles,  have  no  right  to  accept  the  office  of 
trustee  in  such  institutions. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  consider  the  duties  and 
responsibilities  of  the  faculty.     Supposing  them  to  1)q 


166  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

such  men  as  we  have  described,  what  opportunities 
will  they  have  for  exerting  a  Christian  influence  ? 

As  officers  of  instruction,  they  come  in  direct  daily 
contact  with  the  students  ;  and  every  day  will  bring 
with  it  some  opportunity  of  saying  or  doing  something 
that  will  have  an  important  bearing  on  their  religious 
character  and  their  eternal  destiny.  It  will  be  of  very 
little  use  for  them  to  lug  in  their  preaching  or  their 
moralizing  as  a  matter  of  official  duty,  when  they  have 
no  heart  for  the  work.  But  if  the  heart  is  ever  full 
of  Christian  truth,  and  ever  warm  with  holy  love,  it 
will  not  want  i'requent  opportunities  to  pour  itself  out 
in  those  words  spoken  in  season,  which  are  like  apples 
of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver. 

The  daily  studies  of  the  class-room  will  often  sug- 
gest a  religious  lesson,  that  may  be  dropped  by  the 
way.  The  classic  author  may  illustrate  by  resemblance 
or  by  contrast  the  doctrine  or  the  language  of  the  sa- 
cred page.  The  scientific  treatise  may  raise  the 
thoughts  to  the  infinite  Author  of  all  science.  The 
weekly  Bible  exercise,  which,  we  are  happy  to  know, 
exists  in  so  many  colleges,  affords  an  opj^ortunity  of 
rendering  learning  subservient  to  religion  ;  which  the 
Christian  teacher  will  seize  with  avidity,  and  improve 
with  a  zeal  tempered  by  wisdom, — which  will  be  re- 
membered, and  remembered  with  respect  and  plea- 
sure by  his  pupils,  perhaps  long  after  he  has  ceased 
from  his  labors.  The  morning  and  evening  prayer, 
formal  and  heartless  as  it  sometimes  is,  need  not  be 
so,  and  will  not  be  so,  if  the  officers,  as  in  turn  they 
officiate  at  the  altar,  will  give  it  their  thoughts,  and 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  167 

prepare  their  hearts  for  it,  as  they  prepare  their  minds 
for  the  daily  lessons,  and  throw  their  whole  souls  into 
it  at  all  times,  as  they  sometimes  do  in  seasons  of  spe- 
cial religious  interest.  Such  prayers  as  Dr.  Dwight 
poured  forth  in  the  chapel  of  Yale  College,  when  in 
the  agony  of  his  spirit  he  Avrestled  with  God,  as  well 
as  struggled  with  men  for  the  victory  over  error  and 
sin — such  prayers  as  we  have  heard,  all  the  year 
round,  and  year  after  year,  from  the  honored  and  be- 
loved president  of  Amherst  College — such  prayers 
never  fall  powerless  on  the  ear  of  man  or  Grod  ;  never 
fail  to  carry  the  whole  assembly  of  worshippers,  with  a 
wise  and  sacred  violence,  into  the  very  presence  of  their 
Maker. 

Many  college  officers  are  also  preachers  of  the  gos- 
pel. It  is  desirable  that  they  should  be.  There  is  no 
better  discipline  for  the  mind,  as  well  as  the  heart  of 
the  teacher,  than  the  study  of  theology.  The  sacred 
science  is  the  centre  of  all  the  other  sciences,  and  the 
Sacred  Writings  are  the  fountain  of  a  literature  that 
is  higher,  richer,  purer  than  any  other.  It  is  well  in 
many  respects  (though  not  perhaps  best  in  every  re- 
spect) that  the  professors  should  all  take  part  in  the 
preaching  to  the  students  on  the  Sabbath.  It  turns 
their  attention  to  the  spiritual  interests  of  their  pupils, 
and  obliges  them  all  to  share  directly  in  the  responsi- 
bility, as  of  their  literary  proficiency,  so  of  their  im- 
mortal well-being.  Here,  again,  complaint  is  often 
made  of  the  college  chapel  as  containing  the  worst 
possible  audience  for  preachers.  But  the  fault  is  in 
the  preachers  more  than  in  the  hearers.    Good  preach- 


168  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

ers  find  good  audiences  every  where,  and  nowhere 
better  than  in  the  college  chapel.  The  college  is  the 
last  place  in  the  world  to  go  to  with  scientific  disserta- 
tions, or  literary  essays,  or  poetical  prettinesses.  Such 
sermons  will  of  course  raise  an  army  of  critics,  like  the 
sowing  of  dragons'  teeth.  But  manly,  truthful  and 
earnest  appeals  to  their  understanding,  their  con- 
sciences and  their  hearts,  students  will  hear,  will  re- 
spect, will  feel,  will  remember,  will  profit  by,  as  surely 
and  as  abundantly  as  any  audience  in  Christendom. 
The  opportunity  to  preach  to  such  an  audience  is  a 
sacred  privQege,  which  the  college  officer  cannot  too 
highly  prize  ;  a  priceless  talent,  for  the  improvement 
of  which  he  must  give  a  solemn  accoimt. 

Kevivals  of  religion  should  be  an  object  of  special 
prayer  and  labor  with  the  officers  of  colleges.  Kevi- 
vals are  so  adapted,  as  we  have  already  said,  to  the 
nature  and  relations  of  young  men  in  college,  that 
there  is  very  little  hope  of  maintaining  in  them  even 
an  ordinary  standard  of  piety  and  a  tolerable  state  of 
religion,  without  frequent  seasons  of  special  religious 
interest ;  and  these  cannot  be  expected  to  occur  unless 
they  are  specially  contemplated,  earnestly  desired,  con- 
fidently expected,  and  perseveringly  sought  by  suitable 
prayer  and  efibrt.  A  revival  every  four  years  is  the 
very  lowest  standard  that  will  meet  at  all  the  necessi- 
ties of  the  case,  that  every  class,  at  least,  may  reap  the 
fruits  of  one  of  those  hallowed  seasons.  A  revival 
every  year  is  what  is  manifestly  needed  to  bring  every 
class  at  once  under  the  controlling  influence  of  religious 
»wmciple,  and  to  keep  the  standard  high  and  rising 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  169 

from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  course.  And  we 
do  believe  if  the  officers  of  college  would  plan  for  it, 
and  toil  for  it,  and  pray  for  it,  and  look  for  it,  as  they 
do  for  other  and  inferior  ends  ;  and  if  the  united  pray- 
ers of  the  church  might  also  go  up  for  it,  this  exceed- 
ingly desirable  result  might  be  attained,  "  Be  it  unto 
thee  according  to  thy  faith,"  is  the  language  which  the 
providence  and  the  Spirit,  as  well  as  the  Word  of  God, 
utters  almost  with  an  audible  voice  to  all  who  seek  his 
face,  but  most  emphatically  to  those  who  watch  and 
pray  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  students  in  college. 
It  were  good  economy  in  the  government  of  the  stu- 
dents to  labor  for  frequent  revivals.  Such  a  college, 
as  we  have  described,  would  govern  itself  There  is 
no  dissipation,  no  vice,  no  call  for  discipline,  in  time 
of  revival,  and  for  some  time  after.  The  presence  of 
God  is  too  visible,  too  awful  for  such  profanation. 
The  moral  power  of  truth  and  holiness  is  too  clearly 
seen  and  too  deeply  felt.  Let  such  seasons  become  so 
frequent  that  their  influence  shall  continue,  and,  so  to 
speak,  overlap  each  other,  and  the  college  will  be  an 
easily  governed  community,  well  ordered  and  beautiful 
in  itself,  as  well  as  a  school  of  discipline  and  prepara- 
tion for  heaven. 

Personal  conversation  of  the  officers  with  the  stu- 
dents on  the  subject  of  personal  religion  is  an  impor- 
tant means  of  good,  not  only  in  revivals,  but  at  all 
seasons.  Why  should  students  go  away  from  Chris- 
tian colleges,  where  the  teachers  are  all,  or  nearly  all, 
professed  Christians,  and  many  of  them  Christian  min- 
isters, and  where  revivals  occur  every  few  years,  and 
8 


170  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

complain  that  not  one  of  those  teachers  has  ever  said 
a  word  to  them  personally  on  that  great  suhject,  which 
is  the  chief  concern  of  every  human  being,  which  is  the 
most  essential  element  in  every  student's  education  ? 

Direct  intercourse  and  intercommunion  of  officers 
with  students  is  much  more  frequent  now  than  it  was 
in  the  days  of  our  fathers,  when  students  must  take 
off  their  hats  if  they  came  in  sight  of  a  college  officer  ; 
and  when,  of  course,  they  shunned  the  sight  of  an 
officer,  as  the  children  and  youth  of  the  parish,  for  a 
similar  reason,  dreaded  the  visits  of  the  parson.  The 
consequence  is  (and  this  is  one  of  the  most  encourag- 
ing aspects  of  the  times  in  regard  to  colleges),  that  the 
faculty  and  the  students  no  longer  constitute  two  par- 
ties, as  they  then  did,  with  opposing  interests  and  hostile 
feelings.  It  is  a  great  safeguard  to  individual  stu- 
dents, also,  to  feel  that  this  and  that  officer  cherish  a 
personal  regard  for  them.  Nothing  makes  a  young 
man  more  reckless  than  to  feel  that  he  has  no  friends 
in  the  community  where  he  dwells  ;  none  to  care  for 
him,  none  to  be  specially  gratified  if  he  does  well,  and 
none  to  be  deeply  grieved  if  he  acts  an  unworthy  part. 

In  one  college,  where  perhaps  personal  intercourse 
is  carried  as  far,  or  farther,  than  in  any  other,  there  is 
no  member  of  college  who  is  not  invited  to  the  house 
of  some  officer  every  year  in  his  college  course.  Visits 
to  students  at  their  rooms,  also,  are  not  mere  formal 
calls  of  police  officers  to  spy  out  their  quarters,  but, 
often  at  least,  friendly  visits  and  pleasant  conversa- 
tions, which  not  unfrequently  take  a  religious  turn. 
Some  system  is  also  observed  in  these  visits  and  con- 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY,  l7l 

versations,  and  such  a  division  of  labor  is  made  as  to 
extend  them  to  all  the  students.  The  result  is  be- 
lieved to  be  most  happy,  not  only  in  the  religious  state 
of  the  college,  but  in  its  government,  and  in  all  the 
relations  of  officers  and  students.  And  the  only  regret 
of  the  officers  is,  that  they  do  not  find  more  time  for 
such  intercourse,  and  have  not  tlie  heart  to  turn  it 
oftener  to  a  good  religious  account. 

Above  all,  college  officers  should  be  men  of  prayer, 
above  other  men,  for  they  hold  a  post  of  greater  re- 
sponsibility than  most ;  above  all  other  tilings,  for  prayer 
is  the  most  important  of  all  their  duties,  and,  in  some 
sense,  comprehensive  of  all.  For  to  pray  well  is  not 
only  to  study  well,  as  the  Reformers  thought,  but  to 
teach  well  and  preach  well,  and  govern  well  and  guide 
well  the  minds  and  hearts  intrusted  to  their  charge. 
Every  public  exercise,  literary  as  well  as  religious, 
should  be  preceded  by  prayer,  as  much  as  those  of  a 
pastor,  and  for  the  same  reason  ;  every  such  exercise 
is  forming  characters  for  time  and  for  eternity,  and,  if 
guided  by  wisdom  and  blessed  by  grace  from  on  high, 
may  contribute  much  to  form  them  for  usefulness  here 
and  happiness  hereafter.  Every  place — the  study,  the 
recitation-room,  the  laboratory  and  the  library,  not 
less  than  the  closet  and  the  chapel — should  be  bap- 
tized with  prayer.  They  should  pray  not  only  for  the 
whole  college,  but  for  classes,  and  sections  and  individ- 
uals. This  will  awaken  increased  interest  in  such  in- 
dividuals, and  not  only  secure  greater  faithfulness,  but 
lead  naturally  to  a  more  felicitous  use  of  all  suitable 
opportunities  and  means  for  doing  them  good.     They 


172  PRAYER   FOR    COLLEGES. 

should  loatch  for  souls,  and  pray  with  and  for  them  aa 
those  that  must  give  account ;  for  never  had  any  class 
of  men  greater  facilities  for  doing  this  with  such  a  rea- 
sonable prospect  of  a  happy  result  than  college  offi- 
cers :  and  they  cannot  escape  the  responsibiUty  of 
using  or  neglecting  the  ten  talents  that  are  thus  put 
into  their  hands.  They  owe  it  to  themselves,  for 
nothing  will  so  fit  them  for  the  best  performance  of 
their  hterary  as  well  as  their  religious  duties  ;  nothing 
will  contribute  so  much  to  their  honor  and  happiness 
here,  or  make  them  shine  so  brightly  as  stars  of  the 
first  magnitude  in  the  firmament  for  ever.  They 
owe  it  to  their  character  as  Christian  men  ;  to 
their  profession,  many  of  them,  as  Christian  minis- 
ters, and  to  their  office  as  Christian  teachers  in  Chris- 
tian institutions.  They  owe  it  to  their  pupils,  who 
look  to  their  instructions  and  example  as  an  illustra- 
tion of  what  is  most  worthy  to  be  pursued  ;  and  to 
the  parents  of  those  pupils,  who,  in  intrusting  them 
to  their  care,  wish  them  to  be  taught,  first  of  all,  the 
things  that  are  most  excellent,  and  who  desire  nothing 
so  much  as  that  their  children  may  be  found  walking 
in  the  truth.  They  owe  it  to  the  college  system, 
which  was  chiefly  intended  for  religious  purposes ;  to 
the  history  of  American  colleges,  which  has  been  to  so 
great  an  extent  a  history  of  the  labors  of  wise  and  good 
men,  owned  and  blessed  by  the  providence  and  grace 
of  God  ;  to  the  halls  and  rooms  which  they  occupy, 
or  visit,  and  the  very  ground  on  which  they  tread, — 
all  of  which  have  been  hallowed  by  the  prayers  of  min- 
isters and  missionaries,  and   holy  men,  and   by  the 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  173 

more  sacred  presence  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  Are  there 
not  some  rooms  in  all  our  colleges,  and  all  the  rooms 
in  some  of  them,  where  the  stone  would  cry  out  of  the 
wall  at  the  profanation,  and  the  beam  out  of  the  tim- 
ber would  answer  it,  if  they  were  ever  desecrated  to 
unholy  revelry,  or  even  to  mere  secular  pursuits  and 
selfish  gratifications  ?  They  owe  it  to  the  church, 
which  looks  to  them  for  a  learned  and  godly  ministry  ; 
to  the  Commonwealth  and  the  country,  which  depend 
on  them  for  wise  and  pious  rulers  ;  to  the  present  age, 
which  hangs  on  its  educated  men  its  only  earthly  hope 
of  deliverance  from  the  peculiar  errors  and  dangers  by 
which  it  is  beset ;  to  the  cause  of  truth  and  righteous- 
ness, and  liberty  and  humanity,  which  will  roll  on  in 
safety  to  complete  triumph,  or  be  stopped  in  its  vic- 
torious career,  or  be  thrown  off  the  safe  track,  accord- 
ing to  the  wisdom  or  the  folly,  the  faithfulness  or  the 
unfaithfulness,  of  those  engineers  and  conductors  who 
are  now  under  the  training  of  the  officers  of  college. 
They  owe  it  to  mankind,  whose  destinies,  for  time  and 
eternity,  are  intrusted,  under  God,  in  so  large  a  mea- 
sure to  their  keeping.  They  owe  it,  above  all,  to  God, 
whose  they  are  and  whom  they  serve,  who  has  put  them 
in  this  high  post  of  trust  and  influence,  and  endowed 
them  with  the  qualifications  for  it  ;  who,  by  his  won- 
der-working providence,  has  thrown  the  whole  educa- 
tional system  so  entirely  into  the  hands  of  Christian 
men  and  Christian  ministers  ;  and  who,  in  his  more 
wonderful  grace,  has  shown  so  much  readiness  to  co- 
operate with  them  by  his  Spirit  in  the  discharge  of 
their  responsible  duties.     They  stand  on  holy  ground, 


174  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

and  the  Lord,  out  of  the  burning  bush,  calls  on  them 
to  put  then*  shoes  from  off  their  feet,  and  receive,  with 
holy  awe  and  obedient  will,  his  commission  for  the  re- 
demption of  his  chosen  people.  They  stand  at  the 
fountain-head,  and  all  who  dwell  along  the  banks,  or 
drink  from  the  waters,  will  hold  them  responsible  for 
the  streams.  They  possess  the  citadel  in  the  city  of 
God,  and  earth  and  heaven  expect  them  to  do  their  duty. 
In  conclusion  of  this  chapter,  we  cannot  but  ad- 
vert to  the  concurrent  responsibility  of  pious  students 
in  college,  and  also  of  pious  parents  and  friends.  In 
some  respects,  pious  students  have  the  advantage,  even 
over  the  officers,  in  opportunities  of  doing  good  to  their 
fellow-students,  as  individuals.  They  are  on  the  same 
level  with  those  whom  they  would  benefit,  and  in  con- 
stant contact  with  them.  Like  the  professedly  pious 
brothers  and  sisters  in  a  family,  their  example  has  even 
more  power,  perhaps,  than  that  of  the  parents.  They 
are  literally  known  and  read  by  the  whole  community, 
and  whether  they  will  or  not,  they  cannot  but  exert 
an  influence.  The  unchristian  life  of  one  professor  of 
religion  may  raise  doubts  in  many  a  mind,  as  to  the 
reality  of  experimental  piety.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
silent  example  of  one  manifestly  sincere,  consistent, 
every-day  Christian,  has  been  like  an  anchor,  that  has 
held  many  a  doubting  and  tempest-tossed  soul  around 
him  to  a  belief  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  We 
shudder  when  we  remember  the  incalculable  mischief 
that  has  been  done  by  a  talented  and  accomplished, 
but  ungodly  youth,  as  he  has  gone  through  college 
scattering  firebrands,  arrows  and  death,  while  other 


A   PREMIUM   ESSAY.  175 

young  minds,  as  inflammable  as  gunpowder,  stand 
thick  around  him.  Again,  it  thrills  us  with  delight  to 
recall  the  career  of  one  and  another  young  man  of  re- 
markable piety,  whose  heart  was  full  of  love  to  the 
souls  of  men,  whose  closet  burned  with  a  perpetual  fire 
on  the  altar,  whose  room,  at  all  times  a  Bethel,  be- 
came, in  seasons  of  revival,  emphatically  the  house  of 
God  and  the  gate  of  heaven  ;  whose  lips,  always  ready 
to  speak  for  Christ  and  his  cause,  at  such  seasons  over- 
flowed with  impassioned  and  resistless  eloquence  ;  and 
whose  life,  a  pattern  of  faithfulness  in  every  duty,  was 
clothed  with  marvellous  power  to  persuade  men  and  to 
please  God.  Many  a  revival  in  college  has  seemed  to 
turn  on  the  influence  of  one  such  pious  student. 
What  power  would  there  not  be  then  in  a  college 
church  made  up  of  such  young  Christians  ?  What 
Freshman  Class  could  withstand  the  power  of  such  a 
church,  when  it  first  came  under  their  influence  ? 
Oh,  how  can  Christian  students  come  into  the  place? 
and  occupy  the  rooms  of  such  men — men,  who  in  col- 
lege, like  David  Brainerd  and  James  Brainerd  Taylor, 
and  many  others  whom  we  have  known,  have  turned 
many  to  righteousness — without  seeing  and  feeling 
deeply  that  here  is  a  distinction  far  above  ordinary  col- 
lege distinctions,  far  above  all  worldly  greatness,  tc 
shine  like  them  in  usefulness  on  earth  and  in  glory 
above  the  stars  ?  Alas  !  that  such  a  field  of  useful- 
ness should  be  overlooked  by  so  many  young  men 
who  might  do  more  good  in  it  than  most  men  do  in 
all  their  lives  ;  and  at  the  same  time,  by  the  very  pro- 
cess of  cultivating  it,  might  most  effectually  prepare 


176  PKAYEU    FOR    COLLEGES. 

themselves  for  further  labor  in  whatever  field  the  Lord 
of  the  harvest  may  assign  them.  What  more  beauti- 
ful spectacle  can  there  be  on  earth,  than  youth  devoted 
to  God,  and  learning  joined  in  holy  wedlock  to  re- 
ligion  !  And  what  study  can  there  be  more  worthy  of 
a  Christian  student  than  to  consummate  such  a  union  ! 

Pious  parents,  while  they  labor  for  the  conversion 
or  the  increasing  sanctification  of  their  own  sons,  may, 
and  do,  exert  no  inconsiderable  influence  on  the  re- 
ligious state  of  college.  Their  personal  influence  on 
their  sons  during  the  vacation  may  have  an  important 
bearing  not  only  on  their  character,  but  also  on  the 
salvation  of  others ;  may  thwart  all  the  good  influ- 
ences of  the  previous  term,  or  may  seal  all  the  literary 
and  social,  as  well  as  moral  and  reHgious  impressions, 
which  faithful  teachers  are  at  so  much  pains  to  make. 
The  letters  of  a  godly  mother  or  a  pious  sister,  freighted 
with  wisdom  and  love,  are  fraught  also  with  moral 
power  to  touch  and  soften  the  hardest  heart,  and 
thence  often  to  reach  the  hearts  of  others. 

But  the  chief  reliance  of  pious  friends  at  a  distance 
must  be  on  the  power  of  prayer.  However  separated 
by  distance,  they  can  meet  their  sons,  if  pious,  every 
morning  and  evening  at  a  common  mercy-seat ;  and 
if  not  pious,  they  can  reach  them  at  any  time 
through  a  presence  which  they  cannot  escape,  and 
a  power  which  they  cannot  resist  ;  not  only  meet,  or 
reach  them,  but  lay  their  hands,  as  it  were,  upon 
them,  and  leave  a  blessing  on  their  heads.  What  an 
unspeakable  privilege  !  What  a  blessed  medium  of 
approach  and  influence  over  those  far  away  !     Nor  is 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  177 

this  fancy  or  enthusiasm.  Facts  go  beyond  imagina- 
tion in  regard  to  this  very  power,  as  it  has  been  exerted 
on  the  members  of  college,  especially  in  times  of  re- 
vival. After  one  of  those  happy  seasons,  of  which 
there  have  been  so  many  at  Amherst  College,  Presi- 
dent Hitchcock  addressed  a  letter  to  the  parents  of  the 
converts,  and  found  to  his  surprise  (no,  we  will  not  say 
surprise,  for  he  seems  to  have  expected  it,  but  to  his 
wonder  and  delight)  that  in  a  majority  of  cases  parents 
and  friends  at  home  had  felt  an  unusual  solicitude  for 
these  very  youth.  Even  though  they  had  heard 
nothing  of  their  state  of  mind,  and  knew  nothing  of 
the  state  of  religious  feeling  in  college,  still  they  were 
waiting  with  unutterable  longings,  or  with  confident 
expectations,  to  hear  of  the  conversion  of  their  impeni- 
tent children. 

Another  very  interesting  fact,  which  was  developed 
in  this  revival,  and  which  has  been  found  to  be  equally 
true  of  many  others,  is,  that  a  very  large  proportion 
of  the  converts  were  "  children  of  the  covenant ;  "  a  fact 
full  of  encouragement  to  parents,  who  dedicate  their 
children  from  infancy  to  the  Lord  in  the  ordinance  of 
baptism,  but  which  also  illustrates  forcibly  the  respon- 
sibility of  parents  for  the  salvation  of  their  children. 
Of  63  who  were  admitted  to  the  church  in  Yale  Col- 
lege, as  fruits  of  the  revival  of  1802,  all  but  eight  were 
"  children  of  the  covenant."  Of  22  who  were  received 
to  the  communion  after  that  of  1808,  every  individual 
had  been  baptized  in  infancy ;  and  of  70  who  professed 
religion  after  the  revival  of  1831,  all  but  ten  were 
the  children  of  pious  parents.     If  pious  parents  would 


178  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

but  watch  for  the  souls  of  their  sons  in  college  as 
they  care  and  toil  for  their  worldly  prosperity  ;  if  the 
church  would  but  do  her  duty  to  the  baptized  chil- 
dren of  the  church,  who  are  members  of  college,  what 
a  redeeming  and  sanctifying  element  would,  by  this 
means  alone,  be  infused  into  our  literary  institutions  ! 
But  we  must  devote  another  chapter  to  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  church  and  its  ministers. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

Duty  of  the  Church  and  the  Ministry  to  the  Colleges— The  Church  the  Mother  of  the 
Colleges — The  Ministers  their  Sons  in  a  double  sense — Not  Secular  Institu- 
tions— Western  College  Society— Paramount  Duty  of  Ministers  to  root  Colleges 
in  the  Confidence  of  the  Churches  and  the  Common  People — College  Foundations 
— The  Young  Men  of  the  Church — A  Blessing  to  the  Churches  to  educate  them 
— Southampton,  Westhampton — True  idea  of  an  Education  Society — Compre- 
hensive—The Whole  Cause  one— A  Fundamental  Object— Large  Funds  neces- 
sity for  Charitable  Aid— The  Prayer?  of  the  Church— A  Treasure  laid  up  in  Hea- 
ven— Cannot  be  squandered  or  perverted. 

The  church  cannot  roll  off  all  responsibility  for  the  re- 
ligious state  of  colleges  upon  college  officers.  She 
could  not,  if  she  would ;  and  we  are  sure  she  would 
not,  if  she  could.  She  is  the  mother  of  the  colleges, 
and  she  cannot  but  endow  them  with  more  or  less  of 
her  property,  and  follow  them  with  her  blessing  and 
her  prayers.  And  the  ministers  in  turn  are  (many  of 
them  in  a  double  sense)  the  sons  of  the  colleges.  Most 
of  them  received  their  education  there  ;  very  many  of 
them  were  spiritually  born  there. 

The  impression  has  sometimes  prevailed  (though 
the  providence  of  God  and  the  remonstrances  of  en- 
lightened men  have  done  much  of  late  to  remove  that 
impression),  that  colleges  are  secular  institutions,  and, 
as  such,  have  no  special  claim  on  the  charities  or  the 
prayers  of  the  church.  But  they  were  not  so  esteemed 
by  our  Pilgrim  Fathers,  who  planted  Harvard  College 


180  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

in  the  midst  of  the  churches,  and  watered  it  with  their 
prayers  and  tears  ;  and  lavished  on  it  their  treasures 
too, — the  riches  of  their  poverty  and  liberaHty, — as 
they  gave  for  no  other  object  of  Christian  charity. 
They  were  not  so  considered  by  those  ministers  who 
endowed  Yale  College  with  the  choicest  gifts  from 
their  libraries,  and,  in  that  very  act,  consecrated  a 
perpetual  union  between  learning  and  religion.  They 
were  not  so  viewed  by  those  who,  with  pious  and,  for 
the  most  part,  clerical  hands,  founded  the  College  of 
New  Jersey  and  Dartmouth  College,  and  the  other  in- 
stitutions that  sprung  uj)  in  all  sections  of  the  country 
during  the  transition  period,  in  which  the  political 
power  was  passing  from  the  Mother  Country  to  the 
Colonies  and  the  United  States.  They  have  not  been 
so  regarded  by  those  wise  and  holy  men  who  have 
built  so  many  colleges  in  the  old  and  the  new  States 
during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  The  whole  his- 
tory of  colleges  proves  that  they  have  not  been,  and 
were  never  intended  to  be,  secular  institutions.  They 
always  have  been  Christian  schools, — a  sort  of  religious 
society ;  and  if  they  are  to  live  and  prosper,  they  must 
still  continue  to  enjoy  the  patronage  and  the  prayers, 
they  must  still  be  more  or  less  directly  under  the 
watch  and  care  of  the  Christian  church  and  the  Chris- 
tian ministry.  The  Western  College  Society  has  done 
good  service  in  bringing  this  question  distinctly  before 
the  Christian  public,  and  establishing  this  principle 
on  the  solid  basis  of  historical  facts  and  incontroverti- 
ble arguments ;  and  this  Society  is  as  strictly  a  re- 
ligious society,  and  as  well  entitled  to  be  heard  from 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  181 

the  pulpit  on  the  Sabbath,  and  to  share  in  the  sub- 
scriptions of  the  church,  or  tlie  contributions  of  the 
sanctuary,  as  the  Education  Society,  the  Tract  So- 
ciety, or  the  Missionary  Society  itself.  The  institu- 
tions which  it  represents  are  in  no  small  measure  the 
executive  power  and  active  agency, — the  controlling 
head  and  the  laboring  hand  of  them  all.  All  the 
money  that  can  be  poured  into  the  treasuries  of  these 
societies  is  worthless  and  powerless,  unless  the  colleges 
furnish  the  men.  And  ministers  of  the  gospel  could 
hardly  render  a  more  important  service  to  the  churches 
and  the  cause  of  benevolence  at  this  moment  than  by 
preaching,  in  connection  with  the  claims  of  this  So- 
ciety, or  at  their  pleasure,  on  the  indissoluble  connec- 
tion between  the  pecuniary,  literary  and  religious  con- 
dition of  colleges  and  the  permanent  j^rosperity  of  the 
churches.  Ministers,  as  educated  men,  see  the  mutual 
relations  of  learning  and  religion  more  clearly,  and  feel 
them  more  deeply,  than  the  great  majority  of  their 
people  can.  But  by  instructing  them,  line  upon  line, 
on  the  subject,  they  may  bring  their  people  up  to 
some  near  approximation  to  their  own  just  conceptions. 
And  this  is  the  paramount  duty  which  the  clergy  owe 
to  the  higher  seminaries  of  learning  ;  to  endeavor  to 
wipe  away  from  them  the  twofold  prejudice,  that  they 
are  secular  establishments,  on  the  one  hand,  and  on 
the  other,  that  they  are  aristocratic  institutions  ;  and 
so  to  root  them  in  the  confidence  of  Christians  and  the 
common  people,  that  no  heresiarch  or  demagogue  can 
ever  again  hope  to  gain  popularity,  or  even  toleration, 
in  assailing  them. 


182  PllAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

There  is  a  select,  but  growing  class  of  cliurch  mem- 
bers, Avhose  wealth,  combined  with  intelligence  and 
liberality,  fits  them  peculiarly  to  be  the  patrons  of 
literary  institutions, — by  the  endowment  of  professor- 
ships, the  building  of  libraries,  the  establishment  of 
prizes  and  other  foundations,  which  shall  furnish  the 
material  of  education  for  this  and  future  generations. 
It  requires  more  than  ordinary  faith,  or  sagacity  and 
mental  enlargement,  to  found  and  endow  colleges  for 
generations  yet  unborn,  as  it  does  to  establish  political 
institutions,  or  plant  orchards  and  shade-trees,  for  the 
benefit  of  after  ages.  But  such  men  live  when  others 
die  and  are  forgotten  ;  live  in  the  good  they  do,  and 
in  the  memory  of  a  grateful  posterity.  If  any  man  is 
to  be  envied,  it  is  he  who  has  the  means  and  the  heart 
thus  to  enlarge  and  perpetuate  fountains  of  holy  influ- 
ence in  a  dark  and  sinful  world  ;  who  will  teach  and 
preach  in  all  coming  ages  through  an  uninterrupted 
series  of  learned  and  pious  professors,  or  speak  to  the 
leading  minds  of  many  generations  from  the  books, 
and  the  very  shelves  and  walls  of  a  college  library, — 
"  that  shine  where,"  as  Lord  Bacon  says,  "  all  the 
relics  of  the  ancient  saints,  full  of  true  virtue,  and 
without  delusion  or  imposture,  are  preserved  and  re- 
posed." 

It  is  not  men  of  large  wealth  only,  however,  who 
may  enjoy  the  luxury  of  doing  good  permanently,— of 
perpetuating  their  influence  through  college  endow- 
ments. Men  in  ordinary  circumstances  can  combine 
to  found  a  scholarship.  A  church  can  fill  an  alcove, 
and  a  Christian,  of  no  gred,t  resources,  can  fill  a  shelf 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  183 

in  the  library.  An  association  or  presbytery  can  endow 
a  professorship,  A  denomination  can  rear  an  academy 
or  a  college  in  some  new  section,  where  nothing  but 
corn  or  cotton  would  grow  of  itself  for  many  a  year, 
but  where  it  will  soon  be  needed  ;  and  the  very  sight 
of  it  will  help  to  make  Christian  scholars  and  Christian 
ministers. 

But  the  churches  can  contribute  to  the  colleges  a 
richer  gift  than  money.  They  can  send  to  them  their 
sons,  especially  their  pious  sons,  to  be  educated  for  the 
gospel  ministry ;  those  church  members  who  have  the 
ability,  educating  their  own  sons,  and  taking  pains  to 
educate  them  for  this  self-denying  work,  instead  of 
taking  pains  to  keep  them  at  home  that  they  may 
make  money  ;  and  the  church,  as  a  body,  seeking  out 
their  young  men  who  are  poor,  but  pious  and  promis- 
ing, and  encouraging  and  aiding  them  not  to  look  for 
the  easiest  or  the  fattest  place,  but,  at  whatever  sacri- 
fice of  worldly  prosj)ects,  to  prepare  themselves  for  fu- 
ture usefulness  by  a  public  education.  In  so  doing, 
as  benevolence  is  always  twice  blessed,  they  would 
bless  the  college  and  bless  themselves. 

A  college  can  have  no  more  desirable  members,  no 
more  useful  element  introduced  into  it,  than  young  men 
of  this  class.  They  aid  in  its  government  by  their  good 
example.  They  teach  lessons  scarcely  less  valuable, 
and  with  scarcely  less  power,  than  those  which  are  in- 
culcated from  the  professor's  chair.  Their  habits  of 
industry,  economy,  fidelity  and  piety  speak,  with  more 
than  the  eloquence  of  words,  to  every  eye  that  sees 


184  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

them,  and  act  upon  the  whole  community  like  the 
little  leaven,  that  leavens  the  whole  lump. 

The  church,  in  turn,  is  blessed  in  the  very  self- 
denial  of  parting  with  them,  in  the  very  act  of  seeking 
them  out  and  setting  them  on  towards  a  higher  sphere 
of  duty  and  usefulness  ;  in  the  whole  process  of  en- 
couraging and  sustaining  them  while  they  get  their 
education.  It  is  blessed,  also,  in  the  reflex  influence 
which  they  exert  upon  it,  as  they  return,  from  term  to 
term,  with  enlarging  powers  and  increasing  knowledge 
and  growing  piety,  to  mingle  with  them  at  their 
homes  and  firesides ;  to  aid  them  in  their  meetings 
for  prayer  and  conference,  and  to  give  new  life  to  edu- 
cation, temperance,  revivals,  missions  and  every  good 
cause.  Such  a  connecting  link  between  a  Christian 
church  and  a  truly  Christian  college  is  often  an  un- 
speakable blessing  to  that  church  and  the  whole  com- 
munity. And  as,  in  the  course  of  time,  several  such 
men  go  forth  from  the  same  church,  and  settle  in  the 
ministry,  or  engage  in  teaching,  or  labor  in  enterprises 
of  charity  and  benevolence,  they  become  links  not  only 
between  the  church  and  the  college,  but  between  that 
church  and  not  a  few  other  fountains  of  good  influ- 
ence, which  not  only  water  their  own  field,  or  valley, 
but,  like  all  "  the  streams  of  love,"  "  flow  back  where 
they  begin," 

This  is  a  point  which  demands  attention  in  our 
day.  We  are  in  danger  of  depending  too  exclusively 
on  those  great  societies  which  constitute  the  machinery 
of  benevolence ;  and  when  we  have  contributed  to 
them,  we  are  apt  to  think  our  duty  is  done.     It  is  not 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  185 

enoush  to  contribute  to  the  funds  of  an  Education  So- 
ciety — indeed  it  is  of  no  ^bse  to  contribute  to  tliem — 
unless  men  can  be  found,  or  furnished,  for  the  society 
to  educate.  And  if  this  first  point  is  to  be  overlooked, 
our  Education  Societies  will  soon  have  no  material  to 
work  upon,  and  our  Missionary  Societies  no  men  to 
work  with,  and  our  colleges  must  do  the  best  they  can 
with  unconverted  students,  and  our  churches,  for  aught 
we  can  see,  must  take  up  with  unconverted  ministers, 
or  no  ministers  at  all. 

Where  is  the  church,  that  will  again  set  the  ex- 
ample, and  where  are  the  churches  that  will  follow  the 
example,  which  was  so  well  set  in  former  times  by  the 
churches  in  Southampton  and  Westharapton,  but 
which,  we  fear,  is  not  now  very  well  followed  even 
there  ;  and  make  a  business,  not  of  manufacturing 
cotton  fabrics,  but  of  manufacturing  something  better 
— educated  men,  and  ministers  of  the  gospel  ?  Such 
a  community  would  be  intelligent,  virtuous  and  pros- 
perous, by  the  natural  reaction  of  its  educational  and 
benevolent  enterprises.  Such  a  community  would 
deserve  a  premium  far  higher  than  was  ever  awarded 
at  any  "  World's  Fair,"  and  they  would  get  it  at  a 
vastly  grander  exhibition,  which  will  one  day  be  made 
when  the  inhabitants  of  more  than  one  "  world  "  will 
be  assembled,  and  a  more  than  royal  personage  will 
preside  at  the  distribution  of  more  than  royal  prizes. 

But  over  and  above  all  private  efforts  of  individual 
Christians  and  separate  churches,  there  seems  to  be  a 
necessity  for  some  public  association,  which  shall  take 
its  place  among  the  other  accredited  representatives 


186  PRAYER   FOR    COLLEGES, 

of  the  cause  of  benevolence,  which  shall  periodically 
present  the  whole  subject  of  coUegiate  education,  and 
especially  education  for  the  ministry,  to  the  considera- 
tion and  support  of  the  luliole.  church  ;  and  systemati- 
cally apply  their  contributions  where  they  are  most 
needed,  and  will  most  effectually  subserve  the  cause. 
Associated  effort  is  the  order  of  the  day,  and  union  is 
strength.  Every  benevolent  object  now  has  its  society 
to  represent  it,  and  to  watch  over  its  interests.  And 
surely  none  can  be  more  important,  none  more  indis- 
pensable, than  collegiate  education,  especially  as  re- 
lated to  the  Christian  ministry.  It  is  essential  to  the 
success  of  all  the  others,  as  the  means  are  indispensa- 
ble to  the  accomplishment  of  the  end — as  the  laborers 
are  necessary  to  the  ingathering  of  the  harvest.  It 
underlies  all  the  others,  as  the  foundation  underlies 
and  supports  the  superstructure.  Unless  this  go  for- 
ward, all  other  enterprises  of  Christian  benevolence 
are  at  a  stand,  since  money  and  means,  of  whatever 
kind,  and  to  whatever  amount,  are  powerless  without 
men. 

It  is  a  cause  not  only  of  fundamental  importance, 
but  of  great  magnitude  ;  wide  in  its  bearings,  far- 
reaching  in  its  results,  requiring  much  wisdom  in  its 
management,  and  vast  resources  for  the  achievement 
of  its  ends.  Few  have  any  just  conception  of  the 
whole  expense  of  collegiate  education,  and  that  for 
the  simple  reason,  that  all  our  colleges  afford  it  for 
half,  or  less  than  half  its  actual  cost  ;  in  other  words, 
collegiate  education  is  from  one  half  to  three  quarters 
gratuitous.     If  the  students  were  charged  the  whole 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  187 

cost,  including  grounds,  buildings,  libraries  and  ap- 
paratus, as  well  as  the  support  of  the  officers  and  otber 
current  expenses,  tuition  would  be  swelled  to  so  enor- 
mous a  figure,  as  to  exclude  all  but  the  sons  of  the 
most  wealthy,  and  quite  to  appal  even  them.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  tuition  could  be  entirely  free  in  all  our 
colleges,  the  privileges  of  a  public  education  would  be 
brought  within  the  reach  of  not  a  few,  who  now  feel 
themselves  to  be  precluded.  If  provision  were  still 
further  made,  by  scholarships,  and  prizes  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  colleges,  for  the  entii'e  necessary  expenses 
of  all  truly  meritorious  and  highly  promising  young 
men  who  desire  a  collegiate  education,  the  benefits 
would  be  still  more  widely  extended,  and.  they  would 
not  be  confined  to  the  individuals,  but  would  be  felt  in 
every  nook  and  corner  of  society.  If  these  scholarships 
were  not  expressly  limited  in  their  application  to  can- 
didates for  the  ministry,  they  would  tend  to  increase 
the  number  of  ministers,  since  we  might  hope,  that 
many  of  the  incumbents,  if  not  pious  when  placed 
ujDon  the  foundation,  would  become  so  during  their 
education.  Many  and  many  a  young  man  have  wc 
known,  who  longed  for  an  education,  but  knew  no  way 
to  secure  the  cherished  desire  of  his  heart,  because 
there  are  no  charitable  foundations  in  most  of  our 
colleges,  except  for  pious  young  men  who  are  prepar- 
ing for  the  ministry.  Many  such  become  discouraged, 
turn  aside  to  some  more  accessible  walk  of  life,  and 
are  lost  to  learning,  lost  to  all  hope  of  preaching  the 
gospel.  Others  struggle  along  through  poverty  and. 
difiiculty,  and  by  the  providence  and  grace  of  God, 


188  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES, 

despite  the  neglect  of  men,  find  their  way  into  the 
ministiy  at  last,  though  too  often  with  bodily  health 
and  mental  education  both  impaired  by  their  excessive 
exertions.  The  colleges  should  be  provided  with  the 
means  of  educating  such  young  men.  Still  more  im- 
portant is  it,  that  they  should  be  more  amply  furnished 
with  the  means  of  aiding  indigent  and  pious  young 
men  in  an  education  expressly  for  the  ministry ;  for 
scholarships,  prizes  and  appropriations  within  the  gift 
of  the  college  are  more  acceptable  to  the  young  men 
than  any  other  form  of  charitable  aid,  and  it  is  be- 
lieved may  be  made  to  exert  quite  as  elevating  an  in- 
fluence on  the  character  and  attainments. 

And  this  cause,  we  cannot  but  add,  is  one. 
Whether  it  builds  new  colleges  in  the  far  West,  or 
adds  to  the  educational  facilities  in  the  older  colleges 
of  the  East, — whether  it  founds  libraries  or  endows 
professorships,  or  establishes  scholarshij^s  or  distributes 
the  charities  of  the  churches  in  direct  appropriations  to 
beneficiaries, — it  is  one  and  the  same  sacred  enterprise, 
seeking,  though  in  different  ways,  the  same  high  and 
holy  end.  The  American  Education  Society  has  done 
a  noble  work  in  having,  to  so  large  an  extent,  for  a 
long  course  of  years  suppHed  the  deficiency  of  charita- 
ble foundations  in  our  colleges  designed  for  the  benefit 
of  young  men  having  the  ministry  in  view.  This  aid, 
as  supplemental  to  what  could  be  received — by  means 
of  college  endowments — in  the  shape  of  reduced  cost 
of  instruction,  was  indispensable  to  these  young  men 
in  order  to  the  comjoletion  of  a  thorough  course  of 
study.     Bl»t  out  the  history  of  tliat  Society,  and  you 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  189 

put  out  the  light  in  the  candlestick  of  one  third  of  our 
churches — send  back  to  the  farm,  or  the  shop  or  the 
counter,  one  third  of  those  self-denying  men  who  are 
making  the  "Western  wilderness  bud  and  blossom  as 
the  rose — and  call  home  one  third  of  those  who  have 
planted  the  banner  of  the  cross  on  distant  heathen 
shores.  And  you  cast  a  still  darker  cloud  over  the 
future  ;  for  at  this  moment,  one  half  of  those  who  are 
preparing  to  enter  the  ministerial  and  the  missionary 
work  in  our  principal  theological  seminaries,  are  known 
to  be  beneficiaries  of  the  Education  Society.  We 
believe  that  the  golden  age  of  the  educational  enter- 
prise, in  its  largest  sense,  is  yet  to  come  ;  that  educa- 
tional facilities  will  yet  be  multiplied  a  hundredfold, 
and  that  a  far  better  education  will  be  afforded  to  a 
far  greater  number  of  needy  and  worthy  candidates 
for  the  ministry  in  years  to  come,  than  have  ever  been 
educated  in  any  former  year  of  the  history  of  the 
church.  The  discussion  of  the  question,  whether  the 
requisite  provisions  for  this  work  shall  be  made  through 
separate  and  independent  organizations,  or  through  a 
single  one,  so  comprehensive  in  its  object  as  to  em- 
brace within  its  scope  all  that  is  essential,  directly  or 
indirectly,  to  the  best  possible  education  of  the  great- 
est possible  number  of  able  and  faithful  ministers  of 
the  gospel,  comes  not  within  the  scope  of  this  Essay. 
It  is  alike  true,  that  just  in  proportion  as  permanent 
provisions  are  secured,  the  necessity  for  those  which 
are  temporary  is  diminished,  and  that,  in  proportion  as 
permanent  provisions  fail  to  meet  the  demands  of  the 


190  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

church,  the  urgency  of  motive  to  provide  temporary 
supplies  is  increased. 

The  agency  \Yhich  the  American  Education  So- 
ciety had  in  establishing  the  Concert  of  Prayer  for 
colleges,  deserves  a  very  high  place  in  the  list  of  its 
beneficent  operations.  It  has  done  a  blessed  work  in 
calling  the  attention  of  the  churches,  from  year  to 
year,  to  the  importance  of  revivals  in  seminaries  of 
learning.  And  its  influence  has  been  eminently  salu- 
tary in  securing  the  resort  to  such  institutions  of  large 
numbers  of  youth  already  pious.  This  is  auxiliary 
influence  of  great  value  and  power.  But  it  is  ques- 
tionable, after  all,  whether  undue  reliance  has  not  been 
placed  upon  this  temporary  and  negative,  or,  at  most, 
partial  and  inadequate  plan  of  correcting  evil  at  our 
colleges,  as  if  the  most  that  could  be  done  was  to  pu- 
rify streams  flovv'ing  from  fountains  necessarily  corrupt. 
The  true  and  great  idea  undoubtedly  is  to  have  all  ar- 
rangements and  appointments  such  that,  witli  God's 
blessing,  the  fountains  themselves  may  be  kept  pure, 
and  consequently  in  all  their  outflowings  carry  a  holy 
and  happy  influence  over  society.  This  idea  should 
never  be  forgotten  by  the  friends  of  learning  and  re- 
ligion. It  should  be  kept  ever  present,  ever  prominent 
in  the  view  of  the  churches  and  their  ministers.  And 
in  all  the  various  ways  both  of  separate  and  associated 
action  of  which  we  have  already  spoken, — by  giving 
their  money  and  by  giving  their  best  young  men, — 
thej'-  may  contribute  not  a  little  to  a  consummation  so 
devoutly  to  be  wished. 

But  there  is  a  still  richer  gift  with  which  the  fee- 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  191 

blest  church,  or  the  poorest  Christian,  can  endow  a 
college  ;  and  which  is,  after  all,  a  more  j)recious  legacy 
than  princely  affluence  can  bestow.  It  is  the  legacy 
of  their  prayers.  The  vast  funds  of  Harvard  College 
have  been  perverted  to  the  propagation  of  errors  which 
the  godly  founders  of  the  college  would  have  contem- 
plated with  utter  abhorrence.  But  their  prayers  are 
a  fund,  intrusted  to  no  human  keeping,  which  can 
neither  be  squandered  nor  perverted  ;  and  these  pray- 
ers, we  believe,  will  yet  bring  back  the  recreant  child, 
with  her  rich  dowry,  to  the  faith  of  the  Fathers. 
Amherst  College  was  passing  rich  in  the  faith  and 
prayers  of  its  pious  founders,  even  while  it  was  strug- 
gling with  poverty ;  and  now  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  she  is  not  richer  in  the  prayers  of  a  Graves 
than  in  the  munificence  of  a  Williston. 

There  is  a  foundation  in  Amherst  College  given  on 
such  terms,  that  one  half  of  the  income  is  liable  to  be 
called  for  from  year  to  year,  in  all  coming  time,  by  the 
founder  or  his  representative.  It  is  a  noble  founda- 
tion for  the  college,  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  j)er- 
haps  a  surer  provision  for  the  future  emergencies  of  his 
own  family,  than  the  wealth  and  sagacity  of  one  of 
"the  solid  men  of  Boston"  could  in  any  other  way 
establish.  Even  such  a  foundation  may  we  all  estab- 
lish by  our  prayers  for  colleges  ;  a  firm  foundation  for 
the  permanent  prosperity  of  those  institutions,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  a  sure  j)rovision  for  ourselves  and  our 
children  after  us,  laid  up  in  Grod's  treasury  against  the 
wants  and  evils  that  we  know  not  how  soon  may  come 
upon  us,  or  upon  those  who  are  near  and  dear  to  us. 


192  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

A  "treasure"  of  prayers,  "laid  up  in  heaven  \"  that 
is  the  true  riches  for  ourselves, — that  is  the  best 
inheritance  for  our  children, — that  is  extensive  power 
and  enduring  influence  in  the  church  and  the  world  ! 
It  will  last  as  long  as  the  throne  of  Grod  shall  endure  ; 
it  will  have  influence  with  him  who  inhabits  eternity, 
and  governs  the  universe.  Who  that  has  any  en- 
lightened self-love,  any  intelligent  regard  for  his  own 
children  and  children's  children, — any  benevolent  or 
prudent  forecast  for  the  well-being  of  posterity, — who 
that  has  the  opportunity,  will  not  make  an  investment 
which  is  so  easily  made,  and  yet  promises  such  sure 
and  rich  returns  ?  And  who  that  has  any  right  under- 
standing of  the  inseparable  connection  between  learn- 
ing and  religion,  and  the  indispensable  necessity  of 
Christian  colleges  to  all  the  great  interests  of  the 
church  and  the  State,  the  country  and  the  world,  time 
and  eternity  ;  who  that  believes  knowledge  to  be 
power, — power  to  do  good  on  the  largest  scale,  but 
power  also  to  do  e\'il  beyond  all  calculation  ;  who  that 
has  any  rational  love  of  country  or  commonwealth,  of 
mankind  or  Grod, — will  not  do  all  that  prayer  can  do 
to  lay  broad  and  deep  in  the  education  of  all  classes, 
but  especially  of  the  leading  minds  in  society,  the 
foundations  of  these  many  and  various  interests  ? 


CHAPTEE    XIV. 

Eecapitulation— Motives  to  Prayer  in  General— Prayer  for  Colleges— Time  and 
Manner  of  Prayer. 

What  an  accumulation  of  various  and  weiglity  mo- 
tives presses  upon  us ;  enough,  it  would  seem,  to  in- 
duce every  man  to  pray  for  every  right  and  desirable 
object  ;  enough,  especially,  to  constrain  every  Ameri- 
can Christian  to  pray  for  American  colleges  !  Let  us 
recapitulate  the  leading  considerations,  which  have  been 
urged  in  the  foregoing  chaj)ters,  that  we  may  bring 
their  collected  force  to  bear  upon  our  consciences  and 
our  hearts. 

1.  Inducements  to  prayer  in  general. 

Prayer  is  a  duty.  Our  nature  prompts  and  impels 
us  to  pray.  Our  circumstances  command  and  invite  us 
to  pray.  Pagans  and  Mohammedans  would  rise  up 
against  us,  and  condemn  us,  if  we  did  not  pray.  The 
Bible  commands,  exhorts,  and  entreats  us  to  pray.  Pa- 
triarchs, prophets  and  apostles  were  men  of  prayer ; 
and  our  Lord  himself  taught  us  both  by  precept  and 
example  to  live  a  life  of  prayer.  The  Holy  Spirit 
teaches  us  to  pray,  and  makes  intercession  for  us,  ex- 
citing within  us  emotions  that  cannot  be  repressed,  and 
yet  cannot  be  fully  uttered.  We  owe  it  to  our  Heavenly 
Father,  who  waits  to  receive  our  requests.  We  owe  it 
9 


194  PRAYER    J^OR    COLLEGES, 

to  our  divine  Eedeemer,  who  has  opened  the  door  of  ac- 
cess, and  stands  ready  to  introduce  us.  We  owe  it  to  our 
gracious  Helper,  Avho  takes  us,  as  it  were,  by  the  hand, 
and  leads  us  to  the  door,  and  brings  us  near  the  throne, 
and  even  puts  our  petitions  into  our  hearts  and  mouths, 
that  we  may  speak  acceptable  words  in  the  ear  of  the 
King.  We  owe  it  to  our  fellow-men,  whose  wants  are 
many,  whose  necessities  are  greater  than  ours,  but  who 
know  of  no  such  way  of  access  ;  who  feel  that  they 
have  no  such  liberty  of  petition,  who,  while  we  draw 
near  to  our  Father  with  filial  confidence,  stand  with- 
out in  cruel  poverty,  in  hopeless  misery,  in  mute  de- 
spair, but  their  imploring  eyes  and  their  whole  aspect 
and  condition  send  after  us  the  touching  cry,  "  Pray 
for  us  ! " 

.  Prayer  is  a  'privilege.  We  owe  it  not  only  to 
our  fellow-men  and  our  God,  but  also  to  ourselves. 
It  is  an  unspeakable  honor  and  pleasure  to  draw  near 
to  the  King  of  kings  with  petitions  for  ourselves  ;  and 
it  is  perhaps  a  greater  honor  and  pleasure  to  be  in- 
trusted and  commissioned,  so  to  speak,  to  present  be- 
fore him  the  wants  and  requests  of  others. 

He  is  so  condescending  and  kind,  yet  so  wise  and 
good,  that  it  fills  our  whole  souls  with  delight  to  see 
his  face  and  hear  his  voice,  and  be  for  a  season  in  his 
presence.  Moreover,  we  are  sure  to  receive  rich  gifts 
and  great  blessings  from  him.  He  has  even  promised 
to  give  us  every  thing  w^e  ask  for ;  or,  if  we  ask  for 
any  thing  that  is  not  best  for  us,  to  give  us  something 
better.  Indeed,  we  never  get  any  thing  that  is  really 
good  without  asking  it  of  him.     We  get  things  in 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  195 

other  ways,  and  from  other  sources,  but  they  never  do 
us  any  good. 

Prayer  is  a  rich  talent  with  which  lie  has  intrusted 
us  ;  a  great  power  which  he  has  put  into  our  hands, — 
which  he  expects  us  to  use  to  the  best  possible  advan- 
tage, and  for  the  improvement  of  which  we  must  soon 
give  account.  We  have  no  more  right  to  neglect  this 
talent,  or  this  power,  than  we  have  to  neglect  our 
bodily  health  and  strength,  or  waste  our  property  or 
time,  or  bury  our  talents  or  influence.  Nay,  it  is  our 
best  talent,  our  greatest  j)Ower,  our  mightiest  engine  of 
influence  ;  and  not  to  use  it  anywhere,  where  it  might 
do  great  good,  is  to  be  delinquent  in  a  most  important 
duty,  to  betray  a  most  sacred  trust.  Here  is  an  en- 
gine of  immense  moral  power.  It  is  God's  ai)pointed 
instrumentality  for  the  salvation  of  men  and  the  reno- 
vation of  the  world.  It  has  been  used  in  times  past 
by  patriarchs  and  prophets,  and  apostles  and  martyrs, 
and  the  sacramental  host  of  the  Lord's  anointed,  with 
the  grandest  and  most  beneficent  results.  Its  use  now 
devolves  on  its.  In  the  nature  of  the  case,  we  alone — 
the  church  of  God  now  on  the  earth — can  use  it.  The 
world  is  looking  on,  waiting,  suffering,  groaning,  dying 
for  its  energies  to  be  employed  for  their  redemption. 
God  also  looks  and  waits  for  us  to  wield  the  engine 
that  is  to  save  the  world, — to  take  hold  of  the  power 
that  moves  the  universe.  And  now  are  we  at  hberty 
to  sit  still  and  do  nothing,  or  to  take  hold  of  such  a 
power  languidly  and  apply  it  just  as  much,  or  just  as 
little,  as  we  please  ?  Can  there  be  any  greater  guilt 
than  to  waste  such  a  talent,  to  let  such  a  power,  under 


196  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

sucli  circumstances,  lie  useless  ?  When  God  says  to 
his  people,  "  Ask  what  I  shall  give  you ;  demand  of 
me  now  that  great  blessing  upon  the  church  and  the 
world,"  can  there  be  a  greater  insult  offered  to  his  infi- 
nite majesty  than  to  ask  nothing  ? 

Prayer  is  the  great  desideratum  of  our  age.  The 
church  in  past  ages,  in  her  best  ages  at  least,  has  been 
poor  in  this  world's  goods,  but  rich  in  faith  and  prayer  ; 
weak  in  worldly  power  and  resources,  but  mighty  in 
prayer.  The  chm-ch  in  our  day  is  in  danger  of  revers- 
ing the  order.  She  is  growing  rich  in  worldly  posses- 
sions, but  poor,  we  fear,  in  prayer ;  strong  in  human 
wisdom  and  might,  but  weak  in  faith  and  the  power 
of  God.  We  have  got  up  some  machinery  of  our  oion  ; 
very  good  so  far  as  it  goes,  very  beautiful  in  its  orga- 
nization and  grand  in  its  proportions,  but  utterly  des- 
titute of  any  moving  power  in  itself ;  and  yet,  alas  for 
human  wisdom  in  its  best  estate  !  we  are  so  absorbed 
and  delighted  with  the  goodly  mechanism,  that  we  are 
in  danger  of  forgetting  the  moving  power.  We  have 
built  the  engine  and  filled  it  with  wood  and  water, 
and  look  on  to  see  it  move  ;  but  where,  alas  !  is  the 
fire  from  heaven,  that  alone  can  put  it  in  motion  !  We 
have  stretched  the  telegraphic  wires  around  the  globe  ; 
but  where  is  the  electric  fluid,  that  can,  not  only  "bear 
the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  the  ear  of  the  distant 
heathen,  but  send  it  throbbing  and  thrilling  through 
the  inmost  fibres  of  his  heart  ?  When,  in  answer  to 
the  united  and  behoving  prayers  of  the  whole  church, 
the  Spirit  of  God  descends,  like  a  rushing  mighty 
wind,  like  an  irresistible  sacred  fire  from  heaven, — 


A    PKEMIUM    ESSAY.  197 

then,  and  not  till  then,  some  good  will  come  of  all  our 
voluntary  associations  and  institutions  of  learning  and 
pecuniary  contributions. 

Let  us  not,  however,  speak  uncharitably.  There 
is  doubtless  much  prayer  offered  by  the  church  in  our 
day,  and  much  good  has  resulted  from  our  literary  and 
charitable  institutions.  But  how  much  less  than  if  the 
breath  of  life  and  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God  had 
been  more  effectually  breathed  into  them  in  answer  to 
the  effectual  fervent  prayers  of  Christians  !  Let  the 
church  be  tempted  to  lay  her  head  in  fond  dalliance 
on  the  lap  of  worldly  wisdom,  or  wealth  or  greatness, 
and  in  blind  forgetfulness  or  careless  neglect  of  prayer, 
and  she  will  soon  be  shorn  of  her  strength  and  deliv- 
ered into  the  hands  of  her  enemies. 

2.  Special  inducements  to  pray  for  colleges. 

Our  Lord  has  commanded  it.  Among  the  few 
special  objects  of  prayer  which  Jesus  enjoined  upon  his 
disciples,  was  the  raising  up  and  sending  forth  of  preach- 
ers of  the  gospel.  As  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  on  the 
multitudes  that  flocked  to  hear  him,  and  saw  the  field 
already  rij^e  for  the  harvest,  he  turned  to  his  disciples, 
and  said,  "  The  harvest  truly  is  great,  and  the  labor- 
ers are  few  ;  pray  ye,  therefore,  the  Lord  of  the  har- 
vest, that  he  will  send  forth  laborers  into  his  harvest." 
Here  is  our  authority.  Here,  too,  is  our  motive  ;  it  is 
the  command  of  Jesus,  who  is  our  master  and  our 
friend,  and  who  would  fain  be  the  master  and  friend 
of  all  mankind  ;  who  has  died  for  our  redemption, 
and  died  also  for  theirs  ;  who  waits  to  see  the  travail 
of  his  soul  in  their  conversion,  but  who  cannot  see  it, 
humanly  speaking, — nay,  according  to  the  divine  plan 


198  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

and  purpose  cannot  see  it,  except  through  the  educa- 
tion and  commission  of  an  adequate  number  of  suitably 
qualified  ministers  of  the  gospel.  And  this  in  our  day- 
can  be  realized  only  by  the  blessing  of  God  and  the 
outpouring  of  his  Spirit  on  our  colleges.  As  we  love 
Christ,  then,  or  the  souls  for  whom  Christ  died  ;  as  we 
would  honor  and  obey  him  ourselves,  or  see  him  honored 
and  obeyed  by  others,  we  must  pray  for  his  blessing  on 
our  colleges. 

They  need  our  prayers.  The  officers  need  them, — 
they  feel  that  they  need  them.  They  are  oppressed 
with  the  weight  of  their  responsibilities  ;  not,  indeed, 
all  of  them, — not  any  of  them  perhaps  at  all  times, 
never  any  of  them  probably  as  they  should  be, — but 
some  of  them,  sometimes  at  least,  are  oppressed  with 
the  weight  of  their  responsibilities,  and  ready  to  cry 
out,  "  Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ?  "  A  crisis 
comes  in  the  finances  of  a  college,  in  the  government 
and  instruction,  in  the  social  habits  and  moral  char- 
acter of  the  young  men,  or  in  their  rehgious  condition 
and  eternal  destiny  ;  when  they  feel  that  more  than 
human  wisdom,  and  a  greater  than  human  power,  is 
needful  to  give  the  right  direction  to  so  many  young 
minds,  in  whom  are  bound  up  so  many  precious  inter- 
ests, and  who  are  destined  to  exert  so  wide  and  so  pow- 
erful an  influence.  Then  their  first  recourse  is  to  God 
in  prayer  ;  and  if  they  could  whisper  in  the  ears  of 
Christians  every  where  what  they  most  desire  from 
them,  it  would  be,  in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  "Breth- 
ren, pray  for  us."  EsjDecially  on  the  recurrence  of  the 
day  set  apart  by  the  churches  to  be  observed  annually 
as  a  day  of  united  prayer  for  colleges,  when  the  tem- 


A    PREMIUM   ESSAY.  199 

poral  and  eternal  welfare  of  so  many  of  their  pupils  is 
brought  to  a  crisis, — when  the  prosperity  of  the  col- 
lege, the  interests  of  the  church  and  the  well-being  of 
the  community  are  so  deeply  involved, — when  all  these 
momentous  interests  are  concentrated,  as  it  were,  in  a 
point,  and  suspended  on  a  few  short  weeks,  when  a 
few  days  even  may  turn  the  scale  and  decide  the  ques- 
tion,— then,  with  unutterable  longings,  do  they  wish 
that  all  the  churches,  and  all  who  know  how  to  pray, 
would  pray  for  colleges. 

Next  to  the  rulers  of  the  State  and  the  nation,  no 
class  of  men  have  a  stronger  claim  on  the  prayers  of 
the  church  than  the  officers  of  our  colleges.  And,  in 
one  respect,  their  claim  is  prior  even  to  that  of  civil 
rulers.  The  education  of  civil  rulers  themselves  is,  for 
the  most  part,  intrusted  to  their  hands. 

The  students  need  our  prayers, — peculiarly  need 
them.  They  are  at  a  peculiarly  susceptible  and  criti- 
cal age.  They  are  placed  in  peculiarly  trying  circum- 
stances. Consciously  or  unconsciously,  they  are  passing 
the  most  im]3ortant  four  years  of  their  existence, — de- 
ciding questions  for  themselves  which  it  never  will  be 
in  their  power  to  decide  again  ;  exerting  an  influence 
on  others,  which  they  will  never  have  the  opportunity 
to  exert  any  where  else.  Young  men  are  '^  stro7ig  ;" 
and  now  they  are  to  decide  the  question,  whether  they 
shall  be  strong  to  do  good,  or  strong  to  do  evil.  Col- 
lege life  abounds  in  hel^DS  and  in  hindrances  to  moral 
excellence  ;  and  now  they  are  to  determine,  by  their 
own  free  choice,  whether  the  hindrances  shall  prevail 
over  the  helps,   or  the  helps  triumph  over  the  hin- 


200  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

drances.  The  pious  students  need  our  prayers,  that 
they  may  be  living  epistles  of  Christ,  where  so  many 
eyes  are  constantly  reading  them  that  will  not  read 
the  written  Word  of  God  ;  and  that  when  they  go 
forth  into  the  world,  they  may  go,  not  mere  "profes- 
sors of  religion,"  not  ordinary  Christians  and  common- 
place ministers,  but  eminently  holy  and  wise  to  win 
souls.  The  irreligious  students  need  our  prayers,  that 
they  may  escape  the  many  temptations  incident  to 
youth  and  college  life  ;  that  they  may  not  make  ship- 
wreck of  themselves  and  many  others  for  time  and 
eternity  ;  that  they  may  not  go  out  into  the  world 
educated  and  accomplished  enemies  of  God  and  minis- 
ters of  sin,  but  may  be  fitted  by  converting  and  sanc- 
tifying grace  to  serve  God  in  their  generation. 

We  should  pray  for  colleges  because  they  deserve 
our  prayers.  They  are  not  all  that  they  should  be — 
they  are  not  all  that  they  will  be.  They  are  con- 
stantly rising  in  the  standard  of  scholarship.  They 
have  made  no  inconsiderable  advances  in  piety  in  the 
course  of  half  a  century.  There  is  still  room  for  pro- 
gress in  both  these  respects.  Perhaps  they  may  gradu- 
ally be  still  more  popularized  and  conformed  to  the 
peculiar  demands  of  the  country  and  the  age,  without 
sacrificing  any  of  those  essential  excellencies  which 
have  come  down  from  past  generations. 

But  as  they  have  been  and  are,  they  have  filled 
their  place  well,  and  acted  well  their  part.  They  have 
done  honor  to  themselves,  and  shed  lustre  on  our  coun- 
try,— on  the  Church  and  the  State,  on  our  politics 
and  history,  and  literature  and  religion.     The  names 


A    PREMIUM   ESSAY.  201 

of  their  presidents  and  professors  not  only  shine  as  a 
crown  of  glory  on  the  brow  of  the  colleges,  but,  like  a 
necklace  of  pearls,  encircle  and  adorn  our  common 
country.  What  a  list  of  presidents  is  that  which 
adorns  the  catalogue  of  Harvard, — from  a  Dunster 
and  a  Chauncey  to  an  Everett  and  a  Sparks  !  What 
a  row  of  presidents  lie  buried  in  the  graveyard  at 
Princeton  !  What  names  in  our  theological  litera- 
ture, or  the  theological  literature  of  the  world,  are 
brighter  than  those  of  Mather  and  Witherspoon,  and 
EdAvards  and  Davies,  and  Dwight  and  Appleton  !  Pos- 
terity will  delight  to  honor  not  a  few  of  those  who  now 
preside  over  our  colleges  as  scarcely  less  conspicuous 
in  the  history  of  science  and  philology.  We  dare  not 
enter  upon  the  endless  task  of  enumerating  the  pro- 
fessors, and  their  contributions  to  classical  and  polite 
literature,  to  ethical  and  political,  physical  and  meta- 
physical philosophy.  And  we  can  only  allude  to  the 
alumni  of  the  colleges,  who  constitute  the  brightest 
constellations  in  our  literary  and  political  firmament, 
— the  hghts  of  American  history,  and  the  guiding 
stars  which  wise  men  of  the  Old  World  have  seen  in 
their  Eastern  homes,  and  are  following  Westward  to 
the  birthplace  of  political  and  religious  freedom. 

Nor  are  we  less  proud  or  less  dehghted  when  we 
think  how  many  of  these  honored  names  are  "  names 
written  in  heaven  ; "  how  many  of  these  brilliant  con- 
stellations in  our  Hterary  and  political  heavens  wiR 
shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament,  and  as  the 
stars  for  ever  and  ever.     Be  it  ours  to  pray  that  such 

stars  shall  never  cease  to  rise  from  our  colleges,  to  il- 
9v 


202  PRAYER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

lumine  the  churches,  and  to  shed  lustre  on  the  country 
in  the  sight  of  men  and  angels. 

We  should  pray  for  colleges  because  they  were 
founded  by  the  church,  and  the  church  is  committed 
and  pledged  to  sustain  them.  They  were  founded  in 
faith  and  prayer ;  and  they  can  stand  on  no  other 
foundation.  Money  cannot  make  them  prosperous. 
They  may  even  die  of  plethora.  The  State  cannot 
sustain  them  ;  they  will  perish  in  her  cold  embrace. 
They  cannot  rely  on  the  patronage  of  the  great,  or  the 
favor  of  the  people.  These  would  not  always  stand  by 
them  if  they  could,  and  could  not  sustain  them  even 
if  they  would.  The  church — we  have  said  it  repeat- 
edly, but  we  can  hardly  say  it  too  often — the  church 
is  their  mother  ;  and  will  a  mother  cast  off  her  daugh- 
ters without  a  dowry,  or  send  them  away  without  her 
prayers  ?  We  owe  it  to  the  history  of  American  col- 
leges ;  we  owe  it,  also,  to  the  credit  and  consistency 
of  the  American  churches,  that  no  alienation  or  sepa- 
ration be  ever  allowed  to  arise  between  them. 

We  owe  it  especially  to  those  wise  and  holy  men 
who,  from  year  to  year  and  generation  to  generation, 
in  weakness  and  poverty,  with  much  self-denial  and 
many  sacrifices,  planted  these  institutions,  and  watered 
them  with  their  prayers  and  tears.  Should  the 
churches  and  their  ministers  in  our  day  cease  to  pray 
for  the  colleges,  we  might  well  believe  that  the  spirits 
of  the  many  ministers  and  Christians,  who  wept  and 
prayed,  and  toiled  over  their  foundations,  could  not 
rest  in  their  heavenly  spheres,  but  would  come  down 
to  haunt  us  in  our  dreams  ;  and  we  may  be  sure  they 


A    i'REMIUM    ESSAY.  203 

will  rise  up  in  the  judgment  and  testify  against  us  for 
our  unfaithfulness  to  the  sacred  trust  which  they  so 
solemnly,  and  at  so  much  expense,  bequeathed  to  us. 
We  seem  to  see  ourselves  compassed  about  by  a  great 
cloud  of  witnesses,  who  bend  from  their  thrones  in 
heaven,  who  hover  around  these  seats,  sacred  to  learn- 
ing and  religion,  and  beseech  us  to  remember  them  in 
our  supplications.  The  fathers  of  Harvard  are  there 
with  drooping  wing  and  melancholy  aspect ;  and  in 
plaintive  tones,  they  call  upon  the  Christians  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  of  New  England  never  to  cease  praying 
for  that  apostate,  but  still  beloved  college,  till  it  is 
once  more  true  to  its  motto — again  sacred  "  to  Christ 
and  the  church."  Those  "  eleven  ministers,"  and  not 
a  few  other  worthies  of  the  Old  Connecticut  Colony, 
are  there.  Their  wing  droops  not.  Joy  beams  from 
their  eyes,  and  speaks  in  the  very  tones  of  their  voices  ; 
but  they  rejoice  with  trembling,  and  warn  the  officers 
and  pious  students,  the  patrons  and  friends  of  the  col- 
lege, all  the  patrons  and  friends  of  learning  and  re- 
ligion, not  to  forget  that  Yale  College  was  founded  in 
prayer  ;  and  prayer  alone  can  sustain  it — prayer  alone 
can  secure  the  ends  of  its  establishment. 

Time  would  fail  us  to  enumerate  other  groups  as 
they  pass  in  long  line  and  regular  succession  before 
us, — the  founders  and  early  benefactors  of  Nassau  Hall 
and  Dartmouth,  and  Middlebury  and  Williams  and 
Amherst.  And  yet  we  must  pause  here,  and  indulge 
a  moment  the  memory  of  our  hearts,  for  these  are  fa- 
miliar forms  and  faces.  Those  ministers  and  deacons, 
and  private  Christians  of  ''  Old  Hampshire  County," 


204  I'llAYEK    FOR    COLLEGES. 

how  have  we  seen  and  heard  them  pray  with  strong 
crying  and  tears,  as  they  deHberated  on  the  ways  and 
means,  and  labored  on  the  foundations  of  a  Charity 
School  for  the  glory  of  God  in  the  education  of  Chris- 
tian ministers  and  missionaries.  And  shall  its  officers 
and  pious  students,  shall  its  guardians  and  patrons 
and  friends  in  the  vicinity  and  the  Commonwealth, 
shall  the  friends  of  education  and  religion  any  where, 
ever  forget  to  pray  for  Amherst  College  ?  If  we  do, 
"  let  our  right  hand  forget  its  cunning,  and  our  tongue 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  our  mouth." 

Again,  the  procession  passes  on.  The  representa- 
tives of  still  more  recent  colleges,  founded  many  of 
them  in  the  New  States,  come  into  view.  Among 
them,  home  missionaries  hold  a  prominent  place. 
Weary  and  wayworn,  poorly  clad,  but  covered  with  the 
wounds  and  scars  of  their  glorious  warfare,  which 
adorn  them  more  than  imperial  purple,  they  draw  near 
and  tell  us  how,  as  they  laid  the  foundations  of  these 
institutions,  they  kneeled  down  on  the  ground,  per- 
chance on  the  snow,  and  dedicated  them  to  the  service 
of  the  living  God, — the  Father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

And  now,  having  passed  in  single  file  before  us, 
these  departed  worthies  all  gather  around  us  again, 
and  hover  over  us  a  great  cloud  of  witnesses,  and  im- 
plore us  by  all  that  is  sacred  in  their  memories,  as  well 
all  that  is  precious  in  the  ark  of  God,  always  and  every 
where  to  pray  for  the  colleges. 

We  should  pray  for  colleges  because  we  owe  them 
a  debt  of  gi'atitude,  which  can  be  paid  in  no  other 


A    PREMIUM    ESSAY.  205 

way.  It  is  a  dictate  of  nature  that  we  should  pray 
for  our  benefactors.  And  the  colleges  are  the  common 
benefactors — the  munificent  benefactors,  too — of  all 
classes  of  men  in  almost  every  relation,  whether  of  this 
life  only,  or  also  of  that  which  is  to  come. 

They  contribute  largely  to  the  material  wealth  of 
the  country ;  and  that  not  merely  in  the  various  eco- 
nomical applications  of  science,  but  in  the  general  intel- 
ligence, right  principles  and  good  influences,  which,  em- 
anating from  these  centres,  diffuse  themselves  through 
society.  For  knowledge  is  wealth,  good  order  and  good 
morals  are  wealth  ;  and  a  well-educated  man,  espe- 
cially if  he  be  also  an  enlightened  Christian,  is  a  mine 
of  wealth  in  any  community. 

But  we  are  indebted  to  them  not  only  for  money, 
— if  that  were  all,  the  debt  might  be  paid  in  money. 
We  are  indebted  to  them  for  great  and  good  men, 
and,  what  in  our  day  is  second  only  to  such  men,  for 
great  and  good  books.  Our  colleges  stand,  as  it  Avere, 
behind  the  press,  and  directly  or  indirectly  control  its 
issues,  which  are  now  so  prolific  of  good  or  evil.  They 
underlie  all  our  systems  of  education,  government  and 
religion ;  the  foundations  on  which  they  rest, — the 
quarry  on,  and  with  which  they  are  built, — the  deep 
fountains  from  which  all  these  wells  and  streams  are 
perennially  supplied.  They  furnish  our  schools  with 
teachers,  the  churches  with  ministers,  the  State  and 
nation  with  magistrates.  As  citizens,  we  are  indebted 
to  them,  in  large  measure,  for  our  ablest  statesmen, — 
our  Adamses  and  Jeffersons,  and  Hamiltons  and  Madi- 
Bons,  and  Jays  and   Calhouns,  and   Websters ;    and, 


206  PRAYEU    FOR    COLLEGES. 

through  these,  for  our  Declaration  of  Independence^ 
our  Constitution  and  our  Union  ;  for  the  establish- 
ment and  preservation  of  our  peculiar  republican  and 
federal  institutions.  As  Christians,  we  are  indebted 
to  them  for  our  ablest  divines  and  preachers  ;  and, 
through  these,  for  the  defence  and  proj^agation  of  a 
pure  Protestant  Christianity,  and  the  general  preva- 
lence of  truth,  order  and  piety  in  the  churches.  As 
the  friends  of  liberty,  humanity  and  progress,  we  owe 
to  our  own  colleges  and  the  universities  of  Europe  the 
ever-glorious  Keformation,  the  Enghsh  Bible  and  wor- 
ship in  the  vernacular  tongue, — the  literature  and 
theology  of  the  Puritans, — the  rise  of  Methodism  and 
renewed  spirituality  in  the  Protestant  churches  ;  and, 
in  one  word,  the  greater  part  of  those  politico-religious 
reforms  which  have  emancipated  the  human  mind 
from  the  thraldom  of  ages.  As  Christian  philanthro- 
pists, as  those  who  love  the  souls  of  men,  we  cannot 
but  feel  under  immense  obligations  to  American  col- 
leges for  the  first  impulse  and  the  steady  support 
which  they  have  given  to  revivals  of  religion  and  Chris- 
tian missions,  which  have  refreshed  the  parched  places 
of  Israel,  and  watered  even  the  deserts  of  heathenism  ; 
and  which  already — when  their  influence  has  but  just 
begun — have  brought  such  a  multitude  of  souls  from 
every  continent  and  island  home  to  their  heavenly 
Father's  house,  to  go  no  more  out  for  ever.  Oh,  how 
many  lights  would  be  put  out  on  earth, — lights  in  the 
church,  lights  in  the  State  and  lights  in  the  commu- 
nity,— and  how  many  stars  would  fall,  like  Lucifer^ 
from  heaven,  if  merely  those  who  have  been  converted 


A    PKEMIUM    ESSAY.  .  207 

%kx  vilege^  together  with  those  saved  through  their  in- 
strumentality, were  blotted  from  the  book  of  life. 

We  should  pray  for  colleges  because  we  are  still 
dependent  on  them  for  the  same  services  ;  and,  if  we 
are  instant  in  prayer,  we  may  hope  for  yet  richer  bless- 
ings from  them  in  time  to  come.  The  colleges  must 
continue  to  be  in  future,  what  they  always  have  been, 
the  keystones  of  our  educational  system,  and  the 
foundation  stones  of  our  social,  political,  and  religious 
institutions.  And  if  these  fountains  of  influence — ■ 
which,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  still  a  mixed  influence, 
sending  forth  not  a  little  that  is  evil  with  far  more 
that  is  good — if  they  could  be  wholly  purified,  and 
send  forth  none  but  streams  of  truth  and  righteous- 
ness ;  if  all  who  go  forth  from  them  could  but  go  forth, 
not  only  with  thoroughly  disciplined  and  richly  stored 
minds,  but  also  with  renewed  and  sanctified  hearts, 
full  of  love  to  God  and  man,  how  would  they  water  all 
the  City  of  God,  and  turn  the  very  desert  into  the 
garden  of  the  Lord  ! 

We  should  pray  for  colleges  because  they  are  in 
themselves  an  exceedingly  inteixsting  subject  of  prayer. 
Look  at  the  students  simply  as  so  many  young  men 
gathered,  we  might  almost  say,  selected  from  all  parts 
of  the  country,  the  chosen  representatives  of  so  many 
thousand  famihes  ;  young  men  of  superior  talents  and 
aspiring  aims,  full  of  life  and  hope,  overflowing  with 
sympathy  and  warm  affections  ;  their  minds  and 
hearts  throbbing  and  swelHng  with  neio  truths,  7ieio 
thoughts  and  neiv  emotions ;  their  whole  souls  bud- 
ding and  blossoming  in  youth  and  beauty,  and  their 


208  .  PRAYER    FOR    COLLKGES. 

characters  rapidly  forming,  in  the  Spring-time  of  hfe^ 
for  a  harvest  of  no  ordinary  glory,  or  no  common 
shame  !  With  ten  thousand  such  youth  before  us,  so 
soon  to  go  forth  into  the  world  and  take  possession  of 
its  high  places  of  power  and  influence,  may  we  not 
well  adopt  the  apostle's  reason,  and  say,  "  We  will 
pray  for  you,  young  men,  because  ye  are  strong  ?  " 

We  should  pray  for  colleges  because,  in  so  doing, 
we  pray  for  every  tiling  else.  In  the  j)resent  members 
of  our  colleges,  we  have  the  future  teachers  and  rulers 
of  our  nation, — the  professional  men  and  men  of  influ- 
ence of  the  coming  generation, — the  rising  hope  of  our 
country,  the  church  and  the  world.  In  praying  for 
them,  therefore,  we  pray  for  our  country  in  its  magis- 
trates, for  the  church  in  its  ministers,  for  the  world  in 
its  missionaries,  for  every  good  cause  in  its  future 
agents  and  representatives, — for  all  the  streams  of  in- 
fluence in  their  fountain  and  source.  If  prayer  is  the 
lever  that  is  to  raise  this  fallen  world,  here,  in  our  col- 
leges, is  the  place  to  apjjly  it.  If  prayer  is  the  engine 
that  is  to  put  in  motion  the  whole  train  of  redeeming 
influences,  here  is  the  point  to  which  it  should  be  at- 
tached. If  prayer  is  the  conductor,  which  is  to  convey 
divine  influences  from  heaven  to  earth,  these  are  the 
summits  where  especially  it  should  be  set  up,  and 
whence  those  influences  will  spread,  like  the  electric 
fluid,  through  all  the  ranks  and  departments  of  society, 

3.  We  feel  constrained  to  say  a  few  words,  in  con- 
clusion, touching  the  time  and  manner  of  prayer  for  col- 
leges. 

We  should  at  all  events  pray  for  them  once  a  year, 


A   PREMIUM   ESSAY.  209 

at  each  return  of  the  annual  concert  of  prayer.  This 
the  churches  have  volunteered  to  do,  and  this  at  least 
the  colleges  have  a  right  to  expect.  And  oh,  if  Chris- 
tians did  but  know  what  eventful  issues  for  themselves 
and  their  children,  for  the  Commonwealth  and  the 
countiy,  for  the  church  and  the  world,  are  crowded 
within  the  twelve  hours  of  that  single  day,  they  would 
all,  with  one  heart,  spend  that  day  in  prayer  for  col- 
leges. And  if  in  so  doing  they  should  faint,  or  fall 
asleep,  would  they  not  hear  their  Lord  saying  to  them, 
as  to  the  disciples  in  Gethsemane,  "  What  !  could  ye 
not  watch  with  me  one  hour  ? "  The  whole  church 
with  one  accord  in  prayer  for  that  one  thing,  the  con- 
version of  young  men  in  college  !  with  what  irresistible 
power  would  the  very  thought  stir  the  inmost  soul  of 
the  most  careless  student,  and  how  surely  would  this 
natural  influence  be  met  and  accompanied  in  the  same 
youthful  hearts  by  a  mightier  supernatural  influence 
brought  down  from  heaven  by  the  tmitecl  "  prayers  of 
the  Avhole  church  unto  Grod  ! "  Will  not  ministers,  who 
do  know  the  unspeakable  interest  and  importance  of 
this  concert,  preach  on  the  subject,  and  endeavor  to 
bring  their  churches  all  up  to  its  constant  and  faithful 
observance  ? 

A  monthly  concert  of  prayer  for  this  express  object 
would  not  be  more  than  the  object  deserves  ;  and  but 
for  the  fear  of  multiplying  such  occasions  so  as  to  im- 
pair the  power  and  interest  of  them  all,  we  would 
make  the  proposal.  We  may,  at  least,  be  permitted 
to  suggest  the  inquiry,  whether  there  can  be  any  more 
proper  subject  for  at  least  one  prayer  in  each  of  the 


210  PRAYER   FOR    COLLEGES. 

monthly  concerts  that  are  now  observed,  than  those 
literary  institutions,  which  alone  can  furnish  suitable 
men  to  take  the  lead  in  every  enterprise  of  benevolence 
and  reform  ? 

Are  not  colleges  entitled,  also,  to  a  distinct  remem- 
brance in  the  public  worship  of  the  sanctuary  ?  Should 
the  minister  of  the  gospel,  Sabbath  after  Sabbath, 
pass  without  a  word  of  recognition  the  very  institutions 
in  which  he  himself,  and  nearly  all  who,  Hke  him, 
minister  at  the  altar  in  other  churches,  gained  their 
preparation  of  mind — perchance  of  heart  also — to  lead 
in  the  devotions  of  the  sanctuary  ?  Is  it  not  the  duty 
of  ministers  thus  publicly  to  attest  before  the  people 
their  convictions  of  the  intimate  connection  between 
the  colleges  and  the  interests  of  the  church,  and  thus, 
by  example,  teach  them  to  j)ray  for  literary  institu- 
tions ?  Aside  from  the  direct  efficacy  of  such  public 
prayers,  they  would  tend  indirectly  to  remove  popular 
prejudice,  to  strengthen  the  confidence  and  deepen 
the  interest  of  common  minds  in  colleges,  and  to  in- 
duce a  la,rger  number  of  young  men  of  suitable  talents 
to  seek  an  education  for  the  gospel  ministry. 

May  we  not  also  ask  for  the  colleges  an  interest  in 
the  prayers  of  intelligent  and  pious  families  at  the 
family  altar  ?  Those  parents  who  have  sons  in  college 
cannot  but  remember  them  and,  we  trust,  their  fellow- 
students  also,  with  the  tenderest  solicitude,  every 
morning  and  evening.  Others  cannot  feel  their  jper- 
sonal  interest  ;  but,  if  they  obey  the  golden  rule,  or  if 
they  pray  for  objects  according  to  their  intrinsic  merits 
or  their  relative  importance,  will  they  not  often  pray, 


A   PEEMIUM   ESSAY.  211 

in  the  family  and  in  the  closet,  for  the  outpouring  of 
the  Spirit  on  the  thousands  of  young  men  in  our  col- 
leges ? 

We  should  pray  for  colleges  noiv, — in  this  eventful 
age  of  the  world,  when  God  is  overturning  obstacles 
and  opening  all  nations  to  the  spread  of  the  gospel ; 
when  Europe  is  crying  in  piteous  tones  for  help,  and 
Ethiopia  is  stretching  forth  her  hands  unto  the  Lord  ; 
and  even  China  is  waking  from  her  sleep  of  ages,  and 
feeling  after  the  true  God,  if  haply  she  might  find 
him  ; — in  this  interesting  crisis  of  our  country's  des- 
tiny, when  vast  hordes  of  Celtic  papists  and  Teutonic 
infidels  are  invading  it  on  the  East,  and  pagans  from 
China  are  beginning  to  land  on  our  Western  coast ; 
and  the  question  is  not  whether  we  can  conquer  them 
in  battle,  but  whether  we  can  take  them  in  with  our 
population,  and  assimilate  them  to  our  own  political 
and  rehgious  institutions  ;  and  when  the  still  more 
momentous  question  is  to  be  decided  (decided,  too,  by 
our  public,  and,  for  the  most  part,  by  our  educated 
men),  whether  this  boasted  land  of  liberty  shall  take 
the  lead,  by  precept  and  example,  in  "  breaking  every 
yoke,"  or  shall  become  the  most  unblushing  and  the 
most  powerful  propagandist  of  slavery  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  ; — in  the  new  and  strange  position  of  the 
missionary  enterprise,  when  the  home  and  the  foreign 
fields  have  met  on  our  own  shores,  and  it  is  all  white 
for  the  harvest,  but  when  neither  the  Home  nor  the 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  can  find  the  laborers  they 
want  for  the  cultivation  of  any  part  of  it ; — in  the 
present  state  of  the  churches  and  the  colleges,  when 
10 


212  PRAYER    FOR   COLLEGES, 

after  having  advanced  for  years  in  the  frequency  of  re- 
vivals and  the  number  of  conversiouSj  they  have  com- 
menced a  retrograde  movement,  whereby  there  is  a 
constant  decrease  of  the  ministers  just  when  there  is 
the  most  urgent  demand  for  a  great  and  constant  in- 
crease. At  such  a  crisis,  with  what  weight  and  power 
does  the  command  of  our  Saviour  fall  upon  om-  ears : 
"  The  harvest  truly  is  great,  and  the  laborers  are  few  ; 
pray  ye,  therefore,  the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  that  he 
will  send  forth  laborers  into  his  harvest." 

And  now  as  to  the  manner  of  prayer,  we  should 
endeavor  to  pray  with  all  the  characteristics  of  pre- 
vailing prayer, — "  the  effectual  fervent  prayer  of  the 
righteous  man,  which  availeth  much." 

First  of  all,  we  must  hav?  a  sincere  desire  for  the 
blessing  which  we  ask  ;  for  to  ask  for  that  blessing 
while  we  do  not  really  desire  it,  is  a  mockery  and  insult. 
Moreover,  our  desires  should  be  intelligent  and  fervent, 
springing  from  and  proportioned  to  a  just  appreciation 
of  the  transcendent  importance  of  the  object. 

We  should  be  importunate  and  persevering  in  our 
supphcations.  We  should  not  merely  ask  but  seek, 
not  merely  seek  but  knock,  till  the  door  of  heavenly 
mercy  is  thrown  open  before  us.  We  expect  by  im- 
portunity and  perseverance  to  prevail  with  our  friends 
and  neighbors,  with  strangers,  with  our  feUow-men 
generally,  even  with  those  that  "  fear  not  God,  nor  re- 
gard men."  And  "  will  not  God  hear  his  own  elect 
who  cry  day  and  night  unto  him,  though  he  bear  long 
with  them  ?  I  tell  you  he  will  hear  them  speedily." 

We  must  pray  expecting  to  receive  the  blessing  for 


A    PEEMIUM   ESSAY.  213 

which  we  pray  ;  for  without  faith,  it  is  impossible  to 
please  him  ;  and  in  this  matter,  as  in  every  thing  else 
for  which  we  pray  and  labor,  it  will  be  just  according 
to  our  faith.  In  some  things  that  we  ask  for  ourselves 
for  the  present  life,  we  may  well  be  in  doubt,  for  we 
do  not  know  whether  they  are  for  our  good,  or  agreea- 
ble to  his  will ;  but  in  asking  for  spiritual  blessings  for 
ourselves  or  others,  there  is  no  room  for  doubt.  In  re- 
gard to  colleges  especially,  God  has  already  revealed 
his  will,  and  shown  most  unequivocally  his  willingness 
to  bless  them  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  his  people. 
"  And  if  we  ask  any  thing  according  to  his  will,  he 
heareth  us.  And  if  we  know  that  he  heareth  us, 
whatsoever  we  ask,  we  know  that  we  have  the  petitions 
that  we  desired  of  him." 

But  this  faith  must  be  accompanied  with  deep  hu- 
mility, like  that  of  the  centurion,  who,  though  clothed 
with  authority  by  the  Komans,  and  pronounced  worthy 
by  the  elders  of  the  Jews,  did  not  deem  himself  worthy 
that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  should  come  under  his  roof; 
like  that  of  Abraham,  who,  while  he  intercedes  for 
Sodom  like  an  angel,  or  a  friend  of  the  Most  High, 
acknowledges  that  he  is  but  dust  and  ashes  ;  like  that 
of  Jacob,  who,  in  one  breath,  says,  "  I  will  not  let 
thee  go  except  thou  bless  me ; "  and  in  another  adds, 
"  I  am  not  worthy  of  the  least  of  aU  thy  mercies." 

Humility  and  penitence  naturally  lead  to  fasting, 
and  fasting  adds  not  a  little  to  the  efficacy  of  prayer. 
If  we  would  cast  out  the  evil  spirit  from  our  colleges, 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  may  enter  in  and  dwell  there,  we 


214  PRATER    FOR    COLLEGES. 

must  not  forget  that   "  this  kind  goeth  not  forth  but 
by  prayer  and  fasting." 

Finally,  the  ultimate  aim  and  end  of  all  our  pray- 
ers should  be  not  that  we  may  be  gratified,  or  even 
that  the  common  interests  of  learning  and  religion  may 
be  advanced,  but  that  "  God  in  all  things  may  be 
glorified  through  Jesus  Christ."  Who  that  loves  the 
Saviour,  and  longs  to  have  him  "  see  of  the  travail  of 
his  soul  and  be  satisfied,"  would  not  delight,  above  all 
things,  to  see  him  honored  by  the  cordial  love  and  ser- 
vice of  all  the  young  men  in  our  colleges  ;  and  who 
that  has  the  spirit  of  those  holy  men  of  old,  who  spake 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  will  not  unite 
in  the  prayers  which  patriarchs  and  prophets  have  so 
often  and  so  efioctually  offered  :  "  What  wilt  thou  do 
unto  thy  great  name.  Do  thou  it  for  thy  name's  sake. 
0  Lord,  hear ;  0  Lord,  forgive  ;  0  Lord,  hearken  and 
do  :  defer  not,  for  thy  city  and  thy  people  are  called 
by  thy  name." 


THE   END. 


